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.

486958 ArrokothKuiper belt contact binary·34.5 km

243 IdaS-type main-belt asteroid·59.8 km

253 MathildeC-type main-belt asteroid·66 km

21 LutetiaM-type main-belt asteroid·121 km

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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

Asteroids

21 Lutetia

Lutetia is a large M-type asteroid in the main belt and a likely surviving primordial planetesimal. The Rosetta spacecraft flew past it in 2010, making it the largest asteroid then visited by a probe.

Scale fact121 kmmaximum extent

Object class: M-type main-belt asteroid
Composition: Metal-enriched silicate rock
Mass: ~1.7 quadrillion tonnes