Oort

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the city of New York (33.64 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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

Oort orbits the sun every 2,050 days (5.61 years), coming as close as 2.60 AU and reaching as far as 3.72 AU from the sun. Oort is about 33.6 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the city of New York.

The rotation of Oort has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 10.27 hours.

No Close Approaches

Oort's orbit is 1.61 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

Oort's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Oct. 15, 1945. It was last officially observed on June 17, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 4,011 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid Oort 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 Oort:

• 31 Euphrosyne (A854 RA)
• 57 Mnemosyne (A859 SA)
• 90 Antiope (A866 TA)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Oort 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.