Malmquista

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the city of Boston (10.04 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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

Malmquista orbits the sun every 1,210 days (3.31 years), coming as close as 1.78 AU and reaching as far as 2.67 AU from the sun. Malmquista 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 Malmquista has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 14.08 hours.

No Close Approaches

Malmquista's orbit is 0.78 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

Malmquista's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Oct. 20, 1909. It was last officially observed on March 19, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 4,830 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid Malmquista 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 Malmquista:

• 291 Alice (A890 HA)
• 296 Phaetusa (A890 QB)
• 364 Isara (A893 FE)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Malmquista 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.