Van Gaal is a mid-sized asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter in the main portion of the asteroid belt. NASA JPL has not classified Van Gaal as potentially hazardous because its orbit does not bring it close to Earth.
Van Gaal orbits the sun every 1,370 days (3.75 years), coming as close as 2.05 AU and reaching as far as 2.78 AU from the sun. Based on its brightness and the way it reflects light, Van Gaal is probably between 3.737 to 8.357 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, very roughly comparable in size to the San Francisco Bay.
Van Gaal's orbit is 1.05 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.
Van Gaal's orbit is determined by observations dating back to April 22, 1982. It was last officially observed on May 24, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 2,335 observations used to determine its orbit.
The position of Van Gaal 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.
The above comparison is an artistic rendering that uses available data on the diameter of Van Gaal 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.