Althaea

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the U.S. state of Rhode Island (57.30 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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

Althaea orbits the sun every 1,520 days (4.16 years), coming as close as 2.37 AU and reaching as far as 2.80 AU from the sun. Althaea is about 57.3 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the U.S. state of Rhode Island.

The rotation of Althaea has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 11.48 hours.

Althaea's spectral type S (Tholen) / Sl (SMASSII) indicates that it is likely to contain and .

No Close Approaches

Althaea's orbit is 1.37 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

Althaea's orbit is determined by observations dating back to April 13, 1872. It was last officially observed on July 4, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 3,965 observations used to determine its orbit.

Scientists have been able to determine this object's shape:

View asteroid Althaea in 3D.

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 Althaea:

• 5 Astraea (A845 XA)
• 13 Egeria (A850 VA)
• 14 Irene (A851 KA)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Althaea 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.