49777 Cappi (provisional designation ) is a stony background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 2 kilometers in diameter.
The asteroid was discovered on 2 December 1999, by ItalianâÂÂAmerican astronomer Paul Comba at the Prescott Observatory in Arizona, United States. It was named after the discoverer's wife, Margaret Capitola Sonntag Comba.
Cappi is a non-family from the main belt's background population. It orbits the Sun in the inner asteroid belt at a distance of 2.2âÂÂ2.5 AU once every 3 years and 7 months (1,321 days; semi-major axis of 2.36 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.07 and an inclination of 4ð with respect to the ecliptic.
The asteroid's observation arc begins 8 years prior to its official discovery observation, with a precovery taken by the Steward Observatory's Spacewatch survey at Kitt Peak in September 1991.
Cappi is an assumed stony S-type asteroid.
In September 2013, a rotational lightcurve of Cappi was obtained from photometric observation taken in the R-band at the Palomar Transient Factory in California. It showed a rotation period of hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.78 magnitude (), indicating a non-spheroidal shape.
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 1.85 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 16.02.
This minor planet was named after Margaret Capitola Sonntag Comba (born 1940), a psychologist and art therapist by profession, faculty member at Prescott College, and wife of the discoverer. The approved naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 4 May 2004 .