Vala is a large asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter in the main portion of the asteroid belt. NASA JPL has not classified Vala as potentially hazardous because its orbit does not bring it close to Earth.
Vala orbits the sun every 1,380 days (3.78 years), coming as close as 2.26 AU and reaching as far as 2.60 AU from the sun. Vala is about 31.3 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the city of Dallas.
The rotation of Vala has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 5.18 hours.
Vala's spectral type SU (Tholen) / Xc (SMASSII) indicates that it is likely to contain iron, nickel, cobalt, and platinum.
Vala's orbit is 1.25 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.
Vala's orbit is determined by observations dating back to May 30, 1873. It was last officially observed on March 6, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 6,194 observations used to determine its orbit.
The position of Vala 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.