Plancius

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the San Francisco Bay
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

Plancius is a mid-sized asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter in the main portion of the asteroid belt. NASA JPL has not classified Plancius as potentially hazardous because its orbit does not bring it close to Earth.

Plancius orbits the sun every 1,640 days (4.49 years), coming as close as 2.23 AU and reaching as far as 3.22 AU from the sun. Based on its brightness and the way it reflects light, Plancius is probably between 3.878 to 8.670 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, very roughly comparable in size to the San Francisco Bay.

No Close Approaches

Plancius's orbit is 1.23 AU from Earth's orbit at its closest point. This means that there is an extremely wide berth between this asteroid and Earth at all times.

Orbital simulations conducted by NASA JPL's CNEOS do not show any close approaches to Earth.

Images and Observations

Plancius's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Sept. 24, 1960. It was last officially observed on July 1, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 1,942 observations used to determine its orbit.

Accessibility and Exploration

This asteroid is not considered a viable target for human exploration by the NHATS study.

Similar Objects

These objects have orbits that share similar characteristics to the orbit of Plancius:

• 45 Eugenia (A857 MA)
• 110 Lydia (A870 HA)
• 140 Siwa (A874 TB)

References

• JPL Small Body Database
• Mission Design
• Sky Finder Chart

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Plancius is indicated by a ◯ pink circle. Note that the object may not be in your current field of view. Use the controls below to adjust position, location, and time.

Size Rendering

The above comparison is an artistic rendering that uses available data on the diameter of Plancius to create an approximate landscape rendering with Mount Everest in the background. This approximation is built for full-resolution desktop browsers. Shape, color, and texture of asteroid are imagined.