Tooting

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the city of Boston (10.02 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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

Tooting orbits the sun every 1,660 days (4.54 years), coming as close as 2.32 AU and reaching as far as 3.17 AU from the sun. Tooting is about 10.0 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the city of Boston.

The rotation of Tooting has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 36.93 hours.

No Close Approaches

Tooting's orbit is 1.37 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

Tooting's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Dec. 14, 1974. It was last officially observed on June 22, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 3,147 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid Tooting 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 Tooting:

• 36 Atalante (A855 TA)
• 38 Leda (A856 AA)
• 71 Niobe (A861 PA)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Tooting 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.