Key facts
- Category
- Asteroids
- Object class
- Carbonaceous near-Earth asteroid
- Mass
- ~450 million metric tons
- Scale fact
- 1 kmmaximum extent
- Estimated age
- ~4.5 billion years
- Composition
- Carbon-rich rock and boulders
162173 Ryugu
1 kmmaximum extent
Details
Ryugu is a dark carbon-rich asteroid explored by JAXA’s Hayabusa2 mission. Carefully curated returned samples contain amino acids and thousands of other organic compounds with minimal terrestrial contamination, giving researchers a direct view of abiotic chemistry in Ryugu’s parent body.
Hayabusa2 collected material from two sites on Ryugu and returned about 5.4 grams to Earth. Analyses found hydrated minerals and a chemically varied inventory that includes amino acids, amines, carboxylic acids, and aromatic hydrocarbons. The roughly equal mixture of left- and right-handed amino acids supports an abiotic origin, while associations between organics and altered minerals record water-rock chemistry in a larger parent body.
Links
- Preset views
- Wikipedia
- 162173 Ryugu on Wikipedia
- Universe journey
- Asteroid belt & Jupiter
Size neighbors
Objects near 162173 Ryugu on the scale
On the logarithmic size axis, 162173 Ryugu falls between 152830 Dinkinesh and Dactyl. The band uses nearby Carbonaceous near-Earth asteroid records.
Shared physical scale
768m
Sources
References for 162173 Ryugu
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.
- 162173 Ryugu — Wikipedia
- Visual reference: Wikimedia Commons (Hayabusa 2 2018 / JAXA / Kevin M. Gill, CC BY 2.0)
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.