Thalia

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the U.S. state of Delaware (107.53 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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

Thalia orbits the sun every 1,560 days (4.27 years), coming as close as 2.02 AU and reaching as far as 3.23 AU from the sun. Thalia is about 107.5 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the U.S. state of Delaware.

The rotation of Thalia has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 12.31 hours.

Thalia's spectral type S (Tholen) / S (SMASSII) indicates that it is likely to contain and .

No Close Approaches

Thalia's orbit is 1.06 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

Thalia's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Oct. 19, 1856. It was last officially observed on Feb. 19, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 3,901 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid Thalia 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 Thalia:

• 53 Kalypso (A858 GA)
• 78 Diana (A863 EA)
• 124 Alkeste (A872 QA)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Thalia 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.