7 Iris
| Iris imaged by the Very Large Telescope in 2017 | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | John Russell Hind | 
| Discovery date | 13 August 1847 | 
| Designations | |
| (7) Iris | |
| Pronunciation | /ˈaɪrɪs/ | 
| Named after | Īris | 
| Main belt | |
| Adjectives | Iridian /ɪˈrɪdiən, aɪ-/ | 
| Symbol | (historical) | 
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 13 September 2023 (JD 2453300.5) | |
| Aphelion | 2.935 AU (439.1 million km) | 
| Perihelion | 1.838 AU (275.0 million km) | 
| 2.387 AU (357.1 million km) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.22977 | 
| 3.69 a (1346.8 d) | |
| Average orbital speed | 19.03 km/s | 
| 207.9° | |
| Inclination | 5.519° | 
| 259.5° | |
| 4 April 2025 | |
| 145.4° | |
| Earth MOID | 0.85 AU (127 million km) | 
| Proper orbital elements | |
| Proper semi-major axis | 2.3862106 AU | 
| Proper eccentricity | 0.2125516 | 
| Proper inclination | 6.3924857° | 
| Proper mean motion | 97.653672 deg / yr | 
| Proper orbital period | 3.6865 yr (1346.493 d) | 
| Precession of perihelion | 38.403324 arcsec / yr | 
| Precession of the ascending node | −46.447128 arcsec / yr | 
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 268 km × 234 km × 180 km ± (5 km × 4 km × 6 km) 225 km × 190 km × 190 km | 
| 199±10 km 214±5 km 199.83±10 km (IRAS) | |
| Flattening | 0.42 | 
| 538460 km2 | |
| Volume | 37153500 km3 | 
| Mass | (13.5±2.3)×1018 kg(13.75±1.3)×1018 kg | 
| Mean density | 3.26±0.74 g/cm3 2.7±0.3 g/cm3 | 
| Equatorial surface gravity | 0.08 m/s² | 
| Equatorial escape velocity | 0.131 km/s | 
| 7.138843 h (0.2974518 d) | |
| Equatorial rotation velocity | 25.4 m/s | 
| 0.279 0.2766±0.030 | |
| Temperature | ~171 K max: 275 K (+2°C) | 
| S | |
| 6.7 to 11.4 | |
| 5.64 | |
| 0.32" to 0.07" | |
7 Iris is a large main-belt asteroid and possible remnant planetesimal orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. It is the fourth-brightest object in the asteroid belt. 7 Iris is classified as an S-type asteroid, meaning that it has a stony composition.