Mjolnir is a very small asteroid whose orbit crosses the orbit of Earth. NASA JPL has classified Mjolnir as a "Potentially Hazardous Asteroid" due to its predicted close pass(es) with Earth.
Mjolnir orbits the sun every 540 days (1.48 years), coming as close as 0.84 AU and reaching as far as 1.76 AU from the sun. Based on its brightness and the way it reflects light, Mjolnir is probably between 0.082 to 0.366 kilometers in diameter, making it a small to average asteroid, very roughly comparable in size to a football field.
The rotation of Mjolnir has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 11.60 hours.
Mjolnir's orbit is 0.02 AU from Earth's orbit at its closest point. This means that there is a wide berth between this asteroid and Earth at all times.
Mjolnir has 19 close approaches predicted in the coming decades:
Date | Distance from Earth (km) | Velocity (km/s) |
---|---|---|
March 1, 2032 | 6,351,368 | 8.129 |
Dec. 15, 2034 | 23,512,870 | 7.490 |
Oct. 17, 2037 | 10,847,707 | 11.083 |
Feb. 20, 2063 | 13,361,972 | 6.866 |
Nov. 23, 2065 | 19,772,179 | 6.784 |
Oct. 11, 2068 | 23,841,751 | 13.787 |
March 14, 2091 | 16,266,952 | 12.356 |
Jan. 23, 2094 | 21,773,380 | 7.217 |
Nov. 1, 2096 | 11,851,358 | 7.154 |
March 20, 2122 | 28,082,068 | 14.738 |
Feb. 20, 2125 | 13,892,597 | 6.836 |
Dec. 1, 2127 | 21,140,970 | 6.993 |
Oct. 15, 2130 | 18,557,604 | 12.718 |
March 5, 2156 | 4,788,510 | 8.493 |
Dec. 14, 2158 | 23,374,125 | 7.447 |
Oct. 17, 2161 | 15,202,498 | 12.038 |
March 14, 2184 | 14,374,080 | 12.013 |
Jan. 20, 2187 | 22,672,439 | 7.403 |
Oct. 30, 2189 | 9,113,043 | 7.751 |
Mjolnir's orbit is determined by observations dating back to March 21, 1998. It was last officially observed on Oct. 20, 2003. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 196 observations used to determine its orbit.
Mjolnir can be reached with a journey of 370 days. This trajectory would require a delta-v of 10.421 km/s. To put this into perspective, the delta-v to launch a rocket to Low-Earth Orbit is 9.7 km/s. There are 1,183 potential trajectories and launch windows to this asteroid.
See more at the NHATS Mission Trajectories table for Mjolnir.
The position of Mjolnir 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.
The below comparison is an artistic rendering that uses available data on the diameter of Mjolnir to create an approximate landscape rendering with New York City in the background. This approximation is built for full-resolution desktop browsers. Shape, color, and texture of asteroid are imagined.