Winchester

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the U.S. state of Massachusetts (171.71 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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

Winchester orbits the sun every 1,900 days (5.20 years), coming as close as 1.98 AU and reaching as far as 4.02 AU from the sun. Winchester is about 171.7 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the U.S. state of Massachusetts.

The rotation of Winchester has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 9.41 hours.

Winchester's spectral type PC (Tholen) / C (SMASSII) indicates that it is likely to contain water, iron, nickel, cobalt, nitrogen, and ammonia.

No Close Approaches

Winchester's orbit is 1.08 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

Winchester's orbit is determined by observations dating back to March 9, 1913. It was last officially observed on July 4, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 16,242 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid Winchester 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 Winchester:

• 35 Leukothea (A855 HA)
• 256 Walpurga (A886 GA)
• 271 Penthesilea (A887 TB)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Winchester 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.