(36994) Pugel Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 25 September 2000 by LONEOS at Anderson Mesa.
Betsy Pugel (b. 1973) is an American scientist who works in contamination control and as a planetary protection engineer at NASA Goddard. She was critical in retrieving material from a 2018 meteorite fall into the Pacific Ocean and leads the MARTINI suborbital instrument for microgravity studies of regolith on small bodies.Naming citation (WGSBN Bull. 3, #9, 37), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Pugel is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Pugel is 3.07 au from the Sun and 2.23 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 36994 |
| Provisional designation | 2000 SP370 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 4.29 km (#12,083 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.201 |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.37 |
| Orbital period | 4.31 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.65 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.21 – 3.08 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.163 |
| Inclination | 12.2° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.21 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Betsy
All asteroids named after someone called Betsy