Keaton

Key Facts

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

Overview

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

Keaton orbits the sun every 1,160 days (3.18 years), coming as close as 2.08 AU and reaching as far as 2.24 AU from the sun. Based on its brightness and the way it reflects light, Keaton is probably between 4.535 to 10.140 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, very roughly comparable in size to the San Francisco Bay.

The rotation of Keaton has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 6.72 hours.

No Close Approaches

Keaton's orbit is 1.09 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

Keaton's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Dec. 29, 1937. It was last officially observed on Feb. 3, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 3,911 observations used to determine its orbit.

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 Keaton:

• 1818 Brahms (1939 PE)
• 1822 Waterman (1950 OO)
• 1988 Delores (1952 SV)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Keaton 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 Keaton 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.