Orchis

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the city of Indianapolis (22.92 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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

Orchis orbits the sun every 1,380 days (3.78 years), coming as close as 1.80 AU and reaching as far as 3.04 AU from the sun. Orchis is about 22.9 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the city of Indianapolis.

The rotation of Orchis has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 16.10 hours.

Orchis's spectral type F (Tholen) / None (SMASSII) indicates that it is likely to contain water, iron, nickel, cobalt, nitrogen, and ammonia.

No Close Approaches

Orchis's orbit is 0.81 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

Orchis's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Jan. 24, 1906. It was last officially observed on June 21, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 3,970 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid Orchis 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 Orchis:

• 6 Hebe (A847 NA)
• 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 Orchis 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.