Esther

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the city of Indianapolis (21.87 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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

Esther orbits the sun every 1,370 days (3.75 years), coming as close as 1.83 AU and reaching as far as 3.00 AU from the sun. Esther is about 21.9 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the city of Indianapolis.

The rotation of Esther has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 47.50 hours.

Esther's spectral type S (Tholen) / S (SMASSII) indicates that it is likely to contain and .

No Close Approaches

Esther's orbit is 0.86 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.

Images and Observations

Esther's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Nov. 22, 1906. It was last officially observed on Feb. 17, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 4,047 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid Esther 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 Esther:

• 20 Massalia (A852 SA)
• 44 Nysa (A857 KA)
• 67 Asia (A861 HA)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Esther 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.