Doris

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the U.S. state of Maryland (216.47 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

Doris is a very large asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter in the main portion of the asteroid belt. NASA JPL has not classified Doris as potentially hazardous because its orbit does not bring it close to Earth.

Doris orbits the sun every 2,010 days (5.50 years), coming as close as 2.90 AU and reaching as far as 3.32 AU from the sun. Doris is about 216.5 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the U.S. state of Maryland.

The rotation of Doris has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 11.89 hours.

Doris's spectral type CG (Tholen) / Ch (SMASSII) indicates that it is likely to contain water, iron, nickel, cobalt, nitrogen, and ammonia.

No Close Approaches

Doris's orbit is 1.93 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

Doris's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Feb. 27, 1860. It was last officially observed on Feb. 3, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 3,988 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid Doris 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 Doris:

• 86 Semele (A866 AA)
• 159 Aemilia (A876 BA)
• 196 Philomela (A879 JA)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Doris 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.