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Physics LibreTexts

9.7: Brightest Asteroids Visible from Earth

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Image of asteroids are shown as lines, which is the path of the asteroids against the background stars.
Public Domain | Image courtesy of NASA.

(4) Vesta

Image of Asteroid (4) Vesta, which is heavily cratered and shaped like a watermelon.
Image of the asteroid (4) VestaPublic Domain | Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCAL/MPS/DLR/IDA.

Maximum Visual Magnitude

  • 5. 1

Diameter in Miles

  • 326

(2) Pallas

Maximum Visual Magnitude

  • 6. 4

Diameter in Miles

  • 338

(1) Ceres [Dwarf Planet]

Maximum Visual Magnitude

  • 6. 7

Diameter in Miles

  • 590

(7) Iris

Maximum Visual Magnitude

  • 6. 7

Diameter in Miles

  • 149 x 124 x 124

(433) Eros

Image of Asteroid (433) Eros, which is irregular in shape and about 12 miles long.
Image of the asteroid (433) ErosPublic Domain | Image courtesy of NASA.

Maximum Visual Magnitude

  • 6. 8

Diameter in Miles

  • 21 x 7 x 7

This page titled 9.7: Brightest Asteroids Visible from Earth is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Lumen Learning via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.

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