Xenophanes

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the city of Cleveland, Ohio (11.70 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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

Xenophanes orbits the sun every 1,750 days (4.79 years), coming as close as 2.65 AU and reaching as far as 3.03 AU from the sun. Xenophanes is about 11.7 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the city of Cleveland, Ohio.

The rotation of Xenophanes has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 3.78 hours.

No Close Approaches

Xenophanes's orbit is 1.64 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

Xenophanes's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Sept. 24, 1976. It was last officially observed on June 21, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 3,574 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid Xenophanes 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 Xenophanes:

• 385 Ilmatar (A894 EA)
• 452 Hamiltonia (A899 XB)
• 804 Hispania (A915 FK)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Xenophanes 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.