Pyrrha

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the city of Cleveland, Ohio (14.42 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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

Pyrrha orbits the sun every 1,590 days (4.35 years), coming as close as 2.15 AU and reaching as far as 3.17 AU from the sun. Pyrrha is about 14.4 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the city of Cleveland, Ohio.

The rotation of Pyrrha has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 4.12 hours.

No Close Approaches

Pyrrha's orbit is 1.14 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

Pyrrha's orbit is determined by observations dating back to April 6, 1907. It was last officially observed on April 21, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 4,541 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid Pyrrha 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 Pyrrha:

• 3 Juno (A804 RA)
• 26 Proserpina (A853 JA)
• 73 Klytia (A862 GA)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Pyrrha 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.