Castalia

4769 Castalia (1989 PB)

Near-Earth Potentially Hazardous
Space Reference » Apollo-class Asteroids » Castalia

Key Facts

  • Categorized as a Apollo-class Asteroid
  • Comparable in size to the U.S. Pentagon (1.40 km diameter)
  • Will pass within 16,459,931 km of Earth in 2023
  • Classified as a Near Earth Asteroid (NEA)
  • Classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA)
  • See orbit simulation

Overview

Castalia is a mid-sized asteroid whose orbit crosses the orbit of Earth. NASA JPL has classified Castalia as a "Potentially Hazardous Asteroid" due to its predicted close pass(es) with Earth.

Castalia orbits the sun every 400 days (1.10 years), coming as close as 0.55 AU and reaching as far as 1.58 AU from the sun. Castalia is about 1.4 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the U.S. Pentagon.

The rotation of Castalia has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 4.10 hours.

Close Approaches

Castalia's orbit is 0.02 AU from Earth's orbit at its closest point. This means that there is a wide berth between this asteroid and Earth at all times.

Castalia has 22 close approaches predicted in the coming decades:

Date Distance from Earth (km) Velocity (km/s)
Aug. 22, 2023 16,459,931 18.197
April 4, 2027 19,272,376 13.757
Aug. 26, 2046 3,751,564 14.726
April 11, 2050 23,306,025 17.785
Aug. 19, 2057 24,670,301 19.837
April 1, 2061 21,645,686 12.733
Aug. 27, 2080 9,240,245 13.486
April 13, 2084 29,552,248 19.532
Aug. 23, 2091 13,372,964 17.572
April 6, 2095 18,289,884 15.044
March 28, 2106 29,713,981 10.551
Aug. 30, 2114 26,421,715 10.568
Aug. 28, 2125 4,276,717 14.616
April 13, 2129 26,292,393 18.645
Aug. 24, 2136 13,491,459 17.607
April 8, 2140 18,567,555 15.525
Aug. 20, 2147 29,770,962 20.846
April 2, 2151 23,056,480 12.275
Aug. 31, 2170 24,680,730 10.813
Aug. 29, 2181 7,904,068 13.788
Aug. 26, 2192 7,102,650 16.267
April 10, 2196 20,386,888 16.666

Images and Observations

Castalia's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Aug. 1, 1989. It was last officially observed on Aug. 8, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 415 observations used to determine its orbit.

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 Castalia:

References

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Orbital Elements

  • Epoch: 2460200.5 JD
  • Semi-major axis: 1.063 AU
  • Eccentricity: 0.4832
  • Inclination: 8.88°
  • Longitude of Ascending Node: 325.53°
  • Argument of Periapsis: 121.43°
  • Mean Anomaly: 324.42°

Physical Characteristics

  • Diameter: 1.40000 km
  • Magnitude: 17.5
  • Albedo: 0.092

Derived Characteristics

  • Orbit Period: 400 days (1.10 years)
  • Avg. Orbit Speed: 28.91 km/s
  • Aphelion Distance: 1.58 AU
  • Perihelion Distance: 0.55 AU
  • Rotation Period: 4.10 hours

Map Comparison

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Orbit Simulation

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Sky Map

The position of Castalia 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.

Size Rendering

The above comparison is an artistic rendering that uses available data on the diameter of Castalia 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.