Feiyiou

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the San Francisco Bay (7.43 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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

Feiyiou orbits the sun every 1,540 days (4.22 years), coming as close as 2.23 AU and reaching as far as 2.99 AU from the sun. Feiyiou is about 7.4 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the San Francisco Bay.

The rotation of Feiyiou has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 12.17 hours.

No Close Approaches

Feiyiou's orbit is 1.24 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

Feiyiou's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Dec. 20, 1996. It was last officially observed on May 25, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 1,751 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid Feiyiou 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 Feiyiou:

• 70 Panopaea (A861 JA)
• 132 Aethra (A873 LA)
• 193 Ambrosia (A879 DB)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Feiyiou 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.