van Gent

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the San Francisco Bay (7.72 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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

van Gent orbits the sun every 1,180 days (3.23 years), coming as close as 1.79 AU and reaching as far as 2.58 AU from the sun. van Gent is about 7.7 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the San Francisco Bay.

The rotation of van Gent has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 4.17 hours.

No Close Approaches

van Gent'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

van Gent's orbit is determined by observations dating back to July 22, 1930. It was last officially observed on July 5, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 4,018 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid van Gent 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 van Gent:

• 254 Augusta (A886 FA)
• 281 Lucretia (A888 UC)
• 352 Gisela (A893 AB)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of van Gent 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.