Francis is a mid-sized asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter in the main portion of the asteroid belt. NASA JPL has not classified Francis as potentially hazardous because its orbit does not bring it close to Earth.
Francis orbits the sun every 1,290 days (3.53 years), coming as close as 1.77 AU and reaching as far as 2.88 AU from the sun. Francis is about 8.5 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the San Francisco Bay.
The rotation of Francis has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 3.07 hours.
Francis's orbit is 0.76 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.
Francis's orbit is determined by observations dating back to May 28, 1974. It was last officially observed on June 10, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 4,365 observations used to determine its orbit.
The position of Francis 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.