Ptah

5011 Ptah (6743 P-L)

Near-Earth Potentially Hazardous
Space Reference » Apollo-class Asteroids » Ptah

Key Facts

  • Categorized as a Apollo-class Asteroid
  • Comparable in size to Mount Everest
  • Will pass within 28,595,529 km of Earth in 2027
  • Classified as a Near Earth Asteroid (NEA)
  • Classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA)
  • See orbit simulation

Overview

Ptah is a mid-sized asteroid whose orbit crosses the orbit of Earth. NASA JPL has classified Ptah as a "Potentially Hazardous Asteroid" due to its predicted close pass(es) with Earth.

Ptah orbits the sun every 764 days (2.09 years), coming as close as 0.82 AU and reaching as far as 2.45 AU from the sun. Based on its brightness and the way it reflects light, Ptah is probably between 1.209 to 2.704 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, very roughly comparable in size to Mount Everest.

The rotation of Ptah has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 56.30 hours.

Close Approaches

Ptah's orbit is 0.02 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.

Ptah has 16 close approaches predicted in the coming decades:

Date Distance from Earth (km) Velocity (km/s)
Nov. 3, 2027 28,595,529 17.437
Feb. 11, 2030 26,040,275 9.686
Nov. 10, 2050 15,813,071 14.131
March 9, 2053 14,457,277 10.070
Nov. 13, 2073 13,678,749 12.975
March 14, 2076 10,156,071 10.815
Nov. 9, 2096 17,345,441 14.589
March 4, 2099 18,235,091 9.628
Nov. 6, 2119 28,151,073 17.275
Feb. 11, 2122 26,557,366 9.778
Dec. 30, 2144 28,825,437 9.703
April 3, 2147 23,167,624 17.002
Nov. 23, 2167 16,231,706 10.657
March 23, 2170 2,918,960 12.493
Nov. 10, 2190 19,771,419 15.128
Feb. 28, 2193 20,863,806 9.479

Images and Observations

Ptah's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Sept. 24, 1960. It was last officially observed on May 24, 2022. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 629 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 Ptah:

References

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Orbital Elements

  • Epoch: 2460200.5 JD
  • Semi-major axis: 1.636 AU
  • Eccentricity: 0.5
  • Inclination: 7.41°
  • Longitude of Ascending Node: 10.64°
  • Argument of Periapsis: 105.93°
  • Mean Anomaly: 345.28°

Physical Characteristics

  • Diameter: ~1.561 km
  • Magnitude: 16.71

Derived Characteristics

  • Orbit Period: 764 days (2.09 years)
  • Avg. Orbit Speed: 23.30 km/s
  • Aphelion Distance: 2.45 AU
  • Perihelion Distance: 0.82 AU
  • Rotation Period: 56.30 hours

Map Comparison

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Orbit Simulation

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Sky Map

The position of Ptah 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 Ptah 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.