main-belt asteroid
Mathilde
A very dark, low-density asteroid with enormous craters, photographed by NEAR Shoemaker on its way to Eros.
- Distance from Earth today
- 483.0 million km3.229 AU · light: 26 min 51 s
- Distance from the Sun today
- 354.6 million km2.371 AU
- As of
- 3 November 2026position from NASA/JPL orbital elements
Where it is today
Top view of the plane of Earth’s orbit, compressed distance scale. Open on the big map with the time slider →
Facts
- Diameter
- 53 km
- Mass
- 0.103 × 10¹⁸ kg
- Density
- 1,300 kg/m³
- Rotation period
- 17.4 days
- Semi-major axis
- 2.647 AU (396.0 million km)
- Perihelion
- 1.947 AU
- Aphelion
- 3.347 AU
- Orbital period
- 4.31 years
- Orbital eccentricity
- 0.264
- Orbital inclination
- 6.7°
- Last perihelion
- 1 March 2023
- Next perihelion
- 21 June 2027
- Minimum orbit distance from Earth’s orbit (MOID)
- 0.939 AU (140.5 million km)
- Albedo
- 0.044
Source of the figures: JPL Small-Body Database (public domain).
Discovery: 1885 – Johann Palisa
Description
Mathilde was discovered by Johann Palisa in Vienna in 1885. In June 1997 NASA's NEAR Shoemaker flew past it on its way to Eros, the first close look at a dark, carbon-rich asteroid. Mathilde turned out to be blacker than charcoal and covered with several craters so large relative to its size that it is surprising the asteroid survived the impacts. Its low density shows that it is highly porous, likely a rubble pile that absorbed the blows instead of shattering. It also rotates unusually slowly, taking many days per turn.