Meigetsuki

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the island of Manhattan (3.57 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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

Meigetsuki orbits the sun every 1,240 days (3.39 years), coming as close as 1.94 AU and reaching as far as 2.59 AU from the sun. Meigetsuki is about 3.6 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the island of Manhattan.

The rotation of Meigetsuki has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 2315.00 hours.

No Close Approaches

Meigetsuki's orbit is 0.94 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

Meigetsuki's orbit is determined by observations dating back to April 5, 1976. It was last officially observed on March 26, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 3,018 observations used to determine its orbit.

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 Meigetsuki:

• 40 Harmonia (A856 FA)
• 72 Feronia (A861 KA)
• 298 Baptistina (A890 RB)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Meigetsuki 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.

Size Rendering

The above comparison is an artistic rendering that uses available data on the diameter of Meigetsuki to create an approximate landscape rendering with Mount Everest in the background. This approximation is built for full-resolution desktop browsers. Shape, color, and texture of asteroid are imagined.