Wright

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Mars-crossing Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the San Francisco Bay (6.35 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

Wright is a mid-sized asteroid with an orbit that crosses the orbit of Mars. NASA JPL has not classified Wright as potentially hazardous because its orbit does not bring it close to Earth.

Wright orbits the sun every 816 days (2.23 years), coming as close as 1.52 AU and reaching as far as 1.90 AU from the sun. Wright is about 6.4 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the San Francisco Bay.

The rotation of Wright has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 5.29 hours.

Wright's spectral type AU: (Tholen) / Sl (SMASSII) indicates that it is likely to contain and .

No Close Approaches

Wright's orbit is 0.51 AU from Earth's orbit at its closest point. This means that there is a very 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

Wright's orbit is determined by observations dating back to July 14, 1947. It was last officially observed on July 2, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 2,912 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid Wright 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 Wright:

• 1980 Tezcatlipoca (1950 LA)
• 11885 Summanus (1990 SS)
• 14402 (1991 DB)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Wright 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.

Size Rendering

The above comparison is an artistic rendering that uses available data on the diameter of Wright to create an approximate landscape rendering with Mount Everest in the background. This approximation is built for full-resolution desktop browsers. Shape, color, and texture of asteroid are imagined.