It would take <u> 8 years </u> for the asteroid to orbit once around the sun.
What is a semimajor axis?
In geometry, the major axis of an ellipse is its longest diameter: a line segment that runs through the center and both foci, with ends at the two most widely separated points of the perimeter.
The semi-major axis (major semiaxis) is the longest semidiameter or one half of the major axis, and thus runs from the centre, through a focus, and to the perimeter.
The semi-major axis of a hyperbola is, depending on the convention, plus or minus one half of the distance between the two branches.
Thus it is the distance from the center to either vertex of the hyperbola.
In astronomy, the semi-major axis is one of the most important orbital elements of an orbit, along with its orbital period.
For Solar System objects, the semi-major axis is related to the period of the orbit by Kepler's third law.
B. Newton's First Law, I'm pretty sure. The first states that an object in motion stays in motion, and an object at rest stays at rest until an outside force is applied, and that seems pretty relevant.
