Grietje

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Inner Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to Mount Everest (2.46 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

Grietje is a mid-sized asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter within the inner portion of the asteroid belt. NASA JPL has not classified Grietje as potentially hazardous because its orbit does not bring it close to Earth.

Grietje orbits the sun every 994 days (2.72 years), coming as close as 1.78 AU and reaching as far as 2.11 AU from the sun. Grietje is about 2.5 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to Mount Everest.

The rotation of Grietje has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 8.91 hours.

No Close Approaches

Grietje's orbit is 0.81 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

Grietje's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Sept. 29, 1973. It was last officially observed on Feb. 17, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 2,681 observations used to determine its orbit.

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 Grietje:

• 434 Hungaria (A898 RB)
• 1139 Atami (1929 XE)
• 2048 Dwornik (1973 QA)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Grietje 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 Grietje 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.