Peter

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the city of Indianapolis (26.66 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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

Peter orbits the sun every 1,650 days (4.52 years), coming as close as 2.48 AU and reaching as far as 2.98 AU from the sun. Peter is about 26.7 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the city of Indianapolis.

The rotation of Peter has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 11.51 hours.

Peter's spectral type None (Tholen) / C (SMASSII) indicates that it is likely to contain water, iron, nickel, cobalt, nitrogen, and ammonia.

No Close Approaches

Peter's orbit is 1.48 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.

Images and Observations

Peter's orbit is determined by observations dating back to May 17, 1930. It was last officially observed on March 5, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 4,407 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid Peter 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 Peter:

• 38 Leda (A856 AA)
• 110 Lydia (A870 HA)
• 140 Siwa (A874 TB)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Peter 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.