Portugal

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Outer Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the city of Baltimore (14.95 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

Portugal is a large asteroid that orbits between Mars and Jupiter in the outer reaches of the main asteroid belt. NASA JPL has not classified Portugal as potentially hazardous because its orbit does not bring it close to Earth.

Portugal orbits the sun every 2,140 days (5.86 years), coming as close as 2.94 AU and reaching as far as 3.56 AU from the sun. Portugal is about 14.9 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the city of Baltimore.

The rotation of Portugal has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 8.56 hours.

No Close Approaches

Portugal's orbit is 1.92 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

Portugal's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Sept. 6, 1953. It was last officially observed on July 1, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 3,471 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid Portugal 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 Portugal:

• 745 Mauritia (A913 EH)
• 842 Kerstin (A916 TB)
• 1901 Moravia (1972 AD)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Portugal 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.