Penthesilea

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the U.S. state of Rhode Island (65.90 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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

Penthesilea orbits the sun every 1,900 days (5.20 years), coming as close as 2.69 AU and reaching as far as 3.32 AU from the sun. Penthesilea is about 65.9 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the U.S. state of Rhode Island.

The rotation of Penthesilea has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 18.79 hours.

No Close Approaches

Penthesilea's orbit is 1.70 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

Penthesilea's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Sept. 2, 1897. It was last officially observed on Dec. 25, 2022. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 4,000 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid Penthesilea 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 Penthesilea:

• 35 Leukothea (A855 HA)
• 162 Laurentia (A876 HB)
• 221 Eos (A882 BA)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Penthesilea 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.