Ida

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the city of New York (32.00 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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

Ida orbits the sun every 1,770 days (4.85 years), coming as close as 2.73 AU and reaching as far as 2.99 AU from the sun. Ida is about 32.0 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the city of New York.

The rotation of Ida has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 4.63 hours.

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

No Close Approaches

Ida's orbit is 1.75 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

Ida's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Jan. 18, 1885. It was last officially observed on July 5, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 11,298 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid Ida 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 Ida:

• 81 Terpsichore (A864 SA)
• 129 Antigone (A873 CA)
• 158 Koronis (A876 AA)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Ida 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.