Chimay

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the city of Houston (37.43 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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

Chimay orbits the sun every 2,080 days (5.69 years), coming as close as 2.78 AU and reaching as far as 3.60 AU from the sun. Chimay is about 37.4 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the city of Houston.

The rotation of Chimay has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 6.59 hours.

No Close Approaches

Chimay's orbit is 1.78 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

Chimay's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Jan. 22, 1917. It was last officially observed on Feb. 19, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 4,430 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid Chimay 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 Chimay:

• 92 Undina (A867 NA)
• 106 Dione (A868 TA)
• 175 Andromache (A877 TA)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Chimay 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.