Rickfienberg

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the San Francisco Bay (7.44 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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

Rickfienberg orbits the sun every 1,630 days (4.46 years), coming as close as 2.39 AU and reaching as far as 3.02 AU from the sun. Rickfienberg is about 7.4 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the San Francisco Bay.

The rotation of Rickfienberg has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 5.30 hours.

No Close Approaches

Rickfienberg's orbit is 1.40 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

Rickfienberg's orbit is determined by observations dating back to May 30, 1987. It was last officially observed on May 27, 2022. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 2,568 observations used to determine its orbit.

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

View asteroid Rickfienberg 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 Rickfienberg:

• 54 Alexandra (A858 RA)
• 58 Concordia (A860 FA)
• 59 Elpis (A860 RA)

References

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

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

The position of Rickfienberg 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.