Near-Earth asteroid RYUGU

Ryugu

Near-Earth asteroid

A carbon-rich near-Earth asteroid visited by Hayabusa2, with an equatorial ridge and rubble-pile structure.

View in the 3D observatory

Illustrative surface and shape · Image credits

Equivalent diameter: 0.896 km
Orbital semimajor axis: 1.191 AU
Model orbital period: 1.3 yr

01 / Overview

Meet Ryugu

Ryugu and Bennu are important records of primitive material. Ryugu’s returned samples let scientists investigate the history of water and organics in a laboratory.

Shape and composition

Ryugu samples contain water-altered minerals and organic matter, providing material for studying early solar-system chemistry.

Discovery and exploration

Hayabusa2 sampled Ryugu twice in 2019 and returned about 5.4 grams of material to Earth in 2020.

02 / Key data

Core parameters

Equivalent diameter: 0.896 km
Orbital semimajor axis: 1.191 AU
Model orbital period: 1.3 yr
Rotation period: 7.633 hours
Orbital inclination: 5.866 °
Orbital eccentricity: 0.19107

Data and calculation notes

Asteroid positions use epoch-based JPL orbital snapshots and a two-body approximation. Planetary perturbations and thermal radiation effects are omitted; this is not for close-approach or impact prediction. Except for Ceres's observed near-spherical fallback, scene shapes come from mission or PDS models. True sizes use equivalent radii; asteroids do not participate in eclipse calculations.

03 / Further reading

A closer look

Scale and orbit4

Ryugu has an equivalent diameter of about 0.896 km: the diameter of a sphere with the same volume.
A year on Ryugu lasts about 1.30 Earth years.
Using this site's orbital elements, Ryugu is about 0.963 AU from the Sun at perihelion.
Using this site's orbital elements, Ryugu is about 1.418 AU from the Sun at aphelion.

Sources

Understanding the orbital model2

An orbital snapshot describes motion near its epoch; planetary gravity changes real orbits over time.
Near-Earth asteroid is an orbital classification; it does not mean an impact on Earth is imminent.

Sources

04 / Sources

Trusted sources

JAXA / ISAS — Ryugu JPL — Orbital data

Image credits

Published global maps or surface-albedo data are applied only to the matching body. Pallas uses Carry et al.'s published K-band relative-albedo map, which covers about 80% of the surface; unobserved pixels are filled with the mean only to keep the matching model continuous. Psyche uses the per-facet relative-albedo map bundled with DAMIT model 1806. Juno has no downloadable global albedo map, so it keeps its own shape, JPL geometric albedo, and spectral material without borrowing another body's texture.

Surface texture：Hayabusa2 / ISAS-JAXA · License · Rendered by ORBIT