253 Mathilde size and scale context

Mathilde is a large, dark C-type asteroid in the main belt. NASA’s NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft flew past it in 1997 and found a coal-black, heavily cratered rubble pile barely held together. Read its scale context, comparisons, and journey links on the canonical object page.

HeleneTrojan moon·45.2 km

243 IdaS-type main-belt asteroid·59.8 km

253 MathildeC-type main-belt asteroid·66 km

PandoraSmall inner moon·103 km

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Between the smallest and the largest, perspective is everything.

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 turn parts of that scale into curated essays, while focused views let you explore the same range through specific groups of objects.

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Between the smallest and the largest, perspective is everything.

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 turn parts of that scale into curated essays, while focused views let you explore the same range through specific groups of objects.

Editorial

Solar System Planets From Electron to Atoms Stars To Scale Birth And Death Of Stars Black Holes To Scale

Views

Planets of the Solar System Stars of the Universe Black holes Subatomic scale

Open Scale of Space Browse all comparisons

Asteroids

243 Ida

243 Ida is the elongated main-belt asteroid that NASA's Galileo spacecraft flew past in 1993, discovering that it has a tiny moon of its own – Dactyl. Ida became the first asteroid known to have a natural satellite, proving that even small bodies can hold companions.

Scale fact59.8 kmmaximum extent

Object class: S-type main-belt asteroid
Mass: ~42 trillion tonnes
Estimated age: ~4.5 billion years
Composition: Silicate rock with metal

Asteroids

253 Mathilde

Mathilde is a large, dark C-type asteroid in the main belt. NASA’s NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft flew past it in 1997 and found a coal-black, heavily cratered rubble pile barely held together.

Scale fact66 kmmaximum extent

Object class: C-type main-belt asteroid
Composition: Carbon-rich clay-like rock
Mass: ~103 trillion tonnes

Moons

Pandora

Pandora is a small, irregular inner moon of Saturn orbiting just outside the F ring. Its dusty, ice-coated surface has shallow craters, ridges, and grooves, while its gravity helps disturb the ring's changing edge.

Scale fact103 kmmaximum extent

Object class: Small inner moon
Composition: Water ice and fine icy debris
Temperature: 78 K surface
Mass: ~136 trillion tonnes
Host: Saturn