Asteroid · 25143

Itokawa

A rubble pile visited by Hayabusa

Hayabusa photographed Itokawa’s contrasting rocky and smoother terrain and returned microscopic grains. The asteroid’s irregular shape is resolved in spacecraft images.

25143 Itokawa · spacecraft or telescope observation
Hayabusa view of Itokawa. JAXA · Image source ↗

Understand this world

Why bring asteroid material home?Connect an asteroid’s sampled surface to laboratory measurements of salts and organic compounds, with the limits of those interpretations. · 3 min

Measurements

Effective diameter
0.33 km
Semimajor axis
1.324 AU
Orbital period
556.488 Earth days
Orbit, physical values and uncertainties
eccentricity
.2801776414987972 ± 2.0795E-9
semi-major axis
1.324052284342771 au ± 4.1248E-9
perihelion distance
.9530824380945183 au ± 1.5401E-9
inclination; angle with respect to x-y ecliptic plane
1.620940810523569 deg ± 2.6923E-7
longitude of the ascending node
69.07449749929083 deg ± 6.1561E-6
argument of perihelion
162.8409022415483 deg ± 6.1449E-6
mean anomaly
170.653905937934 deg ± 7.4549E-6
time of perihelion passage
2460936.702994476837 TDB ± 1.0557E-5
sidereal orbital period
556.4884171058932 d ± 2.6004E-6
mean motion
.6469137342916093 deg/d ± 3.023E-9
aphelion distance
1.695022130591023 au ± 5.2805E-9
absolute magnitude
19.26
diameter
0.33 km
extent
0.535x0.294x0.209 km ± 0.001
GM
2.1e-9 km^3/s^2 ± 0.063e-9
bulk density
1.9 g/cm^3 ± 0.13
rotation period
12.132 h
pole direction
90.53/-66.30 ± 3.9
thermal inertia
700 J/m^2/s^0.5/K ± 200
SMASSII spectral type
S(IV)

Published JPL orbital elements describe their stated epoch; they are not current positions. Small-body diameters can be effective/model-dependent sizes, not spherical shapes. Missing measurements remain unavailable. Pluto’s diameter uses the New Horizons reference rather than an empty SBDB field. Orbital epoch: JD 2461200.5 TDB.

Object reference ↗

Missions & milestones

1 launches · 0 connected events

These are target-related flights and every connected programme record in the production catalogue. A connected event may concern another stage or target of the same journey. Launch outcome does not establish arrival or current operation.

TARGET-RELATED FLIGHT

Hayabusa

May 9, 2003 · UTC

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Complete source cohort: 9,386 records.

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