Goldberger

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Inner 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

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

Goldberger orbits the sun every 1,020 days (2.79 years), coming as close as 1.89 AU and reaching as far as 2.07 AU from the sun. Based on its brightness and the way it reflects light, Goldberger is probably between 3.931 to 8.791 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, very roughly comparable in size to the San Francisco Bay.

The rotation of Goldberger has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 5.27 hours.

No Close Approaches

Goldberger's orbit is 0.89 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

Goldberger's orbit is determined by observations dating back to April 11, 1978. It was last officially observed on July 1, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 3,825 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 Goldberger:

• 1025 Riema (A923 PG)
• 3940 Larion (1973 FE1)
• 4183 Cuno (1959 LM)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Goldberger 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 Goldberger 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.