Ninian is a mid-sized asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter in the main portion of the asteroid belt. NASA JPL has not classified Ninian as potentially hazardous because its orbit does not bring it close to Earth.
Ninian orbits the sun every 1,250 days (3.42 years), coming as close as 1.78 AU and reaching as far as 2.75 AU from the sun. Ninian is about 5.0 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the San Francisco Bay.
The rotation of Ninian has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 56.72 hours.
Ninian's spectral type None (Tholen) / S (SMASSII) indicates that it is likely to contain and .
Ninian's orbit is 0.78 AU from Earth's orbit at its closest point. This means that there is a very 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.
Ninian's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Dec. 7, 1953. It was last officially observed on June 8, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 3,367 observations used to determine its orbit.
Scientists have been able to determine this object's shape:
View asteroid Ninian in 3D.
The position of Ninian 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.
The above comparison is an artistic rendering that uses available data on the diameter of Ninian to create an approximate landscape rendering with Mount Everest in the background. This approximation is built for full-resolution desktop browsers. Shape, color, and texture of asteroid are imagined.