Dejanira

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the city of Denver (19.96 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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

Dejanira orbits the sun every 1,510 days (4.13 years), coming as close as 2.07 AU and reaching as far as 3.09 AU from the sun. Dejanira is about 20.0 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the city of Denver.

The rotation of Dejanira has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 15.83 hours.

No Close Approaches

Dejanira's orbit is 1.10 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

Dejanira's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Nov. 13, 1904. It was last officially observed on July 2, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 3,386 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid Dejanira 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 Dejanira:

• 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 Dejanira 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.