Kirkwood is a large asteroid that orbits between Mars and Jupiter in the outer reaches of the main asteroid belt. NASA JPL has not classified Kirkwood as potentially hazardous because its orbit does not bring it close to Earth.
Kirkwood orbits the sun every 2,840 days (7.78 years), coming as close as 2.98 AU and reaching as far as 4.88 AU from the sun. Kirkwood is about 47.1 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the U.S. state of Rhode Island.
The rotation of Kirkwood has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 17.89 hours.
Kirkwood's spectral type D (Tholen) / None (SMASSII) indicates that it is likely to contain .
Kirkwood's orbit is 2.00 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.
Kirkwood's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Feb. 21, 1944. It was last officially observed on July 4, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 4,339 observations used to determine its orbit.
The position of Kirkwood 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.