Vassar is a large asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter in the main portion of the asteroid belt. NASA JPL has not classified Vassar as potentially hazardous because its orbit does not bring it close to Earth.
Vassar orbits the sun every 1,990 days (5.45 years), coming as close as 2.45 AU and reaching as far as 3.75 AU from the sun. Vassar is about 36.3 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the city of Houston.
The rotation of Vassar has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 7.93 hours.
Vassar's orbit is 1.56 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.
Vassar's orbit is determined by observations dating back to July 27, 1933. It was last officially observed on June 30, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 3,880 observations used to determine its orbit.
Scientists have been able to determine this object's shape:
View asteroid Vassar in 3D.
The position of Vassar 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.