Key facts
- Category
- Asteroids
- Object class
- C-type main-belt asteroid
- Composition
- Carbon-rich clay-like rock
- Scale fact
- 66 kmmaximum extent
- Mass
- ~103 trillion metric tons
253 Mathilde
66 kmmaximum extent
Explore 253 Mathilde to scaleDetails
Mathilde is a large, dark C-type asteroid in the main belt. NASA’s NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft flew past it in 1997, revealing a heavily cratered body whose low density suggests a porous or loosely packed interior.
NEAR Shoemaker passed about 1,200 kilometers from Mathilde on 27 June 1997 and imaged roughly 60 percent of its surface. The pictures showed an exceptionally dark body marked by several enormous craters. Combining the flyby’s mass measurement with Mathilde’s estimated volume gave a low bulk density, evidence that the asteroid is porous or loosely packed.
Links
- Preset views
- Wikipedia
- 253 Mathilde on Wikipedia
Size neighbors
Objects near 253 Mathilde on the scale
Shared physical scale
50.5km
Sources
References for 253 Mathilde
Measurements and descriptive context are compiled by the Scale of Space team from the references below. If you find an error, please let us know.
- 253 Mathilde — Wikipedia
- Visual reference: Wikimedia Commons (NEAR Shoemaker 1997 / NASA, Public domain)
Continue with nearby objects or open the full scale.
About
Scale of Space is a scroll-based journey through the universe, placing objects on a single logarithmic scale so you can compare size across an unbroken range.
Guides explain selected parts of that range, while focused views filter the objects by subject.