Mendel is a mid-sized asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter in the main portion of the asteroid belt. NASA JPL has not classified Mendel as potentially hazardous because its orbit does not bring it close to Earth.
Mendel orbits the sun every 1,580 days (4.33 years), coming as close as 2.31 AU and reaching as far as 3.00 AU from the sun. Mendel is about 8.8 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the San Francisco Bay.
The rotation of Mendel has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 13.34 hours.
Mendel's orbit is 1.29 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.
Mendel's orbit is determined by observations dating back to May 11, 1972. It was last officially observed on May 9, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 3,932 observations used to determine its orbit.
The position of Mendel 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.