Bruce Helin

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the city of Cleveland, Ohio (12.47 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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

Bruce Helin orbits the sun every 1,330 days (3.64 years), coming as close as 1.86 AU and reaching as far as 2.87 AU from the sun. Bruce Helin is about 12.5 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the city of Cleveland, Ohio.

The rotation of Bruce Helin has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 128.00 hours.

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

No Close Approaches

Bruce Helin's orbit is 0.92 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

Bruce Helin's orbit is determined by observations dating back to May 2, 1976. It was last officially observed on July 4, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 3,501 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid Bruce Helin 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 Bruce Helin:

• 4 Vesta (A807 FA)
• 30 Urania (A854 OA)
• 51 Nemausa (A858 BA)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Bruce Helin 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.