Cerberus

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Apollo-class Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the U.S. Pentagon (1.20 km diameter)
• Will pass within 25,570,611 km of Earth in 2044
• Classified as a Near Earth Asteroid (NEA)
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

Cerberus is a mid-sized asteroid whose orbit crosses the orbit of Earth. NASA JPL has classified Cerberus as a "Near Earth Asteroid" due to its orbit's proximity to Earth, but it is not considered potentially hazardous because computer simulations have not indicated any imminent likelihood of future collision.

Cerberus orbits the sun every 410 days (1.12 years), coming as close as 0.58 AU and reaching as far as 1.58 AU from the sun. Cerberus is about 1.2 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the U.S. Pentagon.

The rotation of Cerberus has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 6.80 hours.

Cerberus's spectral type S (Tholen) / S (SMASSII) indicates that it is likely to contain and .

Close Approaches

Cerberus's orbit is 0.16 AU from Earth's orbit at its closest point. This means that there is a wide berth between this asteroid and Earth at all times.

Cerberus has 6 close approaches predicted in the coming decades:

Images and Observations

Cerberus's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Nov. 10, 1971. It was last officially observed on Oct. 23, 2021. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 2,142 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid Cerberus 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 Cerberus:

• 1566 Icarus (1949 MA)
• 2063 Bacchus (1977 HB)
• 5786 Talos (1991 RC)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Cerberus 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.

Size Rendering

The above comparison is an artistic rendering that uses available data on the diameter of Cerberus 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.