van den Bergh

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Outer Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the city of Indianapolis (28.46 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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

van den Bergh orbits the sun every 2,860 days (7.83 years), coming as close as 3.42 AU and reaching as far as 4.48 AU from the sun. van den Bergh is about 28.5 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the city of Indianapolis.

The rotation of van den Bergh has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 87.92 hours.

No Close Approaches

van den Bergh's orbit is 2.42 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

van den Bergh's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Nov. 28, 1951. It was last officially observed on April 17, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 2,942 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid van den Bergh 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 van den Bergh:

• 748 Simeisa (A913 EL)
• 1212 Francette (1931 XC)
• 1746 Brouwer (1963 RF)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of van den Bergh 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.