Majella

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

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

Majella orbits the sun every 1,590 days (4.35 years), coming as close as 2.32 AU and reaching as far as 3.02 AU from the sun. Based on its brightness and the way it reflects light, Majella is probably between 8.601 to 19.233 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, very roughly comparable in size to the city of Boston.

The rotation of Majella has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 3.81 hours.

No Close Approaches

Majella's orbit is 1.32 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

Majella's orbit is determined by observations dating back to March 7, 1986. It was last officially observed on Feb. 9, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 3,883 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid Majella 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 Majella:

• 3 Juno (A804 RA)
• 73 Klytia (A862 GA)
• 75 Eurydike (A862 SA)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Majella 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.