Barolo

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the city of Boston
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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

Barolo orbits the sun every 1,920 days (5.26 years), coming as close as 2.72 AU and reaching as far as 3.33 AU from the sun. Based on its brightness and the way it reflects light, Barolo is probably between 7.808 to 17.460 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, very roughly comparable in size to the city of Boston.

The rotation of Barolo has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 8.37 hours.

No Close Approaches

Barolo's orbit is 1.75 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

Barolo's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Dec. 30, 1954. It was last officially observed on March 13, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 2,977 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid Barolo 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 Barolo:

• 162 Laurentia (A876 HB)
• 331 Etheridgea (A892 GA)
• 339 Dorothea (A892 SC)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Barolo 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.