77185 Cherryh

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

77185 Cherryh is a small, dark asteroid in the central part of the asteroid belt, about 4 kilometers across. It belongs to the belt’s background population, not a specific asteroid family. It was discovered on 20 March 2001 by American amateur astronomers Don Wells and Alex Cruz at the George Observatory in Needville, Texas. Its provisional designation was 2001 FE9 (also listed as 1998 TG27). The asteroid was named after American science fiction writer C. J. Cherryh, with the official naming published in 2004.

Orbit and physical properties: Cherryh orbits the Sun every about 4.18 years (1,528 days) at a distance of roughly 2.1–3.1 AU. Its orbit has an eccentricity of about 0.17 and an inclination of about 3 degrees. The asteroid’s observation record includes a precovery image from 1990, taken by Spacewatch, which helps confirm its orbit.

Measurements from NASA’s NEOWISE mission show Cherryh is about 3.985 kilometers in diameter and has a very low albedo of around 0.049, indicating a dark surface likely of carbon-rich (C-type) composition. The spectral type is not yet confirmed, and as of 2018 no rotational lightcurve has been obtained, so its rotation period, pole orientation, and shape are still unknown.