[10][21] Alauda's satellite Pichi üñëm, provisionally known as S/2007 (702) 1, was discovered on 26 July 2007 from observations using adaptive-optics imaging with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) 8-m Very Large Telescope (VLT) on Cerro Paranal, Chile.

[19][21][22] It was named Pichi üñëm (Mapudungun: [ˈpɪtʃi ɨˈɲɘm], approximately /ˈpɪtʃi ɪˈnjʌm/), meaning "little bird" in the Mapuche language of Chile, the country from which the moon was discovered.

[24]: 23  Other members of this family include: 581 Tauntonia, 1101 Clematis, 1838 Ursa, 3139 Shantou, 3325 TARDIS, 4368 Pillmore, 5360 Rozhdestvenskij, 5815 Shinsengumi, and many others.

The discoverers of the moon, Patricio Rojo and Jean-Luc Margot, estimated Alauda's mass to be (6.057±0.36)×1018 kg and its density to be 1.57±0.5 g/cm3.

[19] Alauda has been observed to occult stars on several occasions, providing important information on its size and shape.