  Here we revisit an initial orbit determination method introduced by O. F.
Mossotti employing four geocentric sky-plane observations and a linear equation
to compute the angular momentum of the observed body. We then extend the method
to topocentric observations, yielding a quadratic equation for the angular
momentum. The performance of the two versions are compared through numerical
tests with synthetic asteroid data using different time intervals between
consecutive observations and different astrometric errors. We also show a
comparison test with Gauss's method using simulated observations with the
expected cadence of the VRO-LSST telescope.
