Raphaela

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the city of Indianapolis (21.43 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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

Raphaela orbits the sun every 1,590 days (4.35 years), coming as close as 2.44 AU and reaching as far as 2.90 AU from the sun. Raphaela is about 21.4 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the city of Indianapolis.

The rotation of Raphaela has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 20.92 hours.

No Close Approaches

Raphaela's orbit is 1.44 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

Raphaela's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Dec. 10, 1892. It was last officially observed on Feb. 3, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 4,359 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid Raphaela 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 Raphaela:

• 3 Juno (A804 RA)
• 64 Angelina (A861 EA)
• 73 Klytia (A862 GA)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Raphaela 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.