Gilclark

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Inner Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the island of Manhattan (4.12 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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

Gilclark orbits the sun every 934 days (2.56 years), coming as close as 1.73 AU and reaching as far as 2.01 AU from the sun. Gilclark is about 4.1 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the island of Manhattan.

The rotation of Gilclark has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 4.57 hours.

No Close Approaches

Gilclark's orbit is 0.83 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

Gilclark's orbit is determined by observations dating back to March 4, 1989. It was last officially observed on July 5, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 2,539 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 Gilclark:

• 1509 Esclangona (1938 YG)
• 1627 Ivar (1929 SH)
• 1656 Suomi (1942 EC)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Gilclark 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 Gilclark 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.