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public  Aluniş, Romania Aluniş, Romania  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/Bucharest
Sunrise: 5:35 
Transit: 13:28 
Sunset: 21:22
wb_twilight   (Astronomical Twilight)  
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Dwarf Planets and Asteroids » 

Asteroid 1979 XB

Below the horizon.  Rise: 3:40 | Tran: 8:20 | Set: 13:00
Alt: -34.05°   Az: 78.58°   Direction: East-North-East

Asteroid 1979 XB is in the constellation of Cetus, at a distance of 516,956,924.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 01h 34m 02s and the Declination is -17° 19’ 53” (apparent coordinates). The magnitude of asteroid 1979 XB is 24.92.

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of asteroid 1979 XB in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

Star map showing the position of asteroid 1979 XB in the constellation of Cetus on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.
Star map showing the position of asteroid 1979 XB in the constellation of Cetus on F, d Y. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive star map.

The following map uses photographic imagery from the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) to realistically visualize the precise position of asteroid 1979 XB against the stars in the background. The horizontal size of the map measures 60 arcminutes. Click on the image to access a more detailed full-screen view.

1979 XB
RA: 01h 32m 48s
Dec: -17° 27’ 42”
Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of asteroid 1979 XB. Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

01h 34m 02s
-17° 19’ 53”
15h 53m 10s
17h 27m 13s

J2000

01h 32m 48s
-17° 27’ 42”

Additional Information

Cetus
24.92

Rise and Set Times

The following table lists today's rise, transit and set times of asteroid 1979 XB from Aluniş, Romania (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/Bucharest):

Azimuth: 107.3°
Max altitude: 25.7°
Azimuth: 252.7°

If you need to access this information frequently for your observations, you can create a simple customized Quick Access page, so that you can easily bookmark it in your browser favorites or add a shortcut to your mobile phones' home screen.

Distance from Earth

The distance of asteroid 1979 XB from Earth is currently 516,956,924.0 kilometers, equivalent to 3.4556435969 Astronomical Units. Light takes 28m 44.383s to travel from asteroid 1979 XB and arrive to us.

516,956,924.0
3.4556435969
28m 44.383s

The following graph shows the distance of asteroid 1979 XB from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance is measured in Astronomical Units and the data is sampled with an interval of 1 day.

Chart of the distance of asteroid 1979 XB from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)
Note: The values in this chart may not be entirely accurate around the time of closest approach for objects passing very close to Earth at high speed (e.g., Near-Earth Objects).

The value of the distance of 1979 XB from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the live position tracker.

Closest Approach to Earth

In the period between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2099, the closest approach of asteroid 1979 XB to Earth will happen on Wednesday 10 December 2092 at a distance of 0.062426 Astronomical Units, or 9,338,740 kilometers:

Wednesday 10 December 2092
9,338,740
0.062426

Note: the values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.

Light Curve

The following chart shows the light curve of asteroid 1979 XB, i.e., its apparent magnitude as a function of time. The curve is calculated using the latest ephemerides provided by JPL Horizons. The magnitude data is sampled with the interval of 2 days. Because of this sampling, inaccuracies may occur for objects that have large variations of brightness over a few days. For comets, large discrepancies can arise between the calculated brightness and the observations due to their highly dynamic, and not always precisely predictable, behavior.

Chart of the magnitude of asteroid 1979 XB as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of asteroid 1979 XB at epoch December, 13 1979 00:00 UTC (JD: 2444221.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.70844951
Orbit inclination i 24.73412122°
Perihelion distance q 0.64959947 AU
97,178,698 km
Aphelion distance Q 3.80657184 AU
569,455,043 km
Semi-major axis a 2.22808566 AU
333,316,871 km
Orbital period period 3.3259 years
1,214.7761 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp January 29, 1980
2,444,267.6670 JD
Next perihelion transit May 27, 1983
2,445,482.4431 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 75.579898280515°
Longitude of the ascending node node 86.055503094738°
Mean anomaly M 346.31837437011°
Mean motion n 0.29635090°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of asteroid 1979 XB relative to the other major objects in the Solar System. You can access more advanced features using our 3D Solar System Viewer.

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of asteroid 1979 XB computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Apparent celestial coordinates are provided.

Date Right AscensionR.A. DeclinationDec. MagnitudeMag Constellation
Jun 24 2025 01h 28m 47s -17° 00’ 33” 25.01 Cetus
Jun 25 2025 01h 29m 29s -17° 02’ 32” 25.00 Cetus
Jun 26 2025 01h 30m 10s -17° 04’ 38” 24.99 Cetus
Jun 27 2025 01h 30m 51s -17° 06’ 54” 24.98 Cetus
Jun 28 2025 01h 31m 32s -17° 09’ 18” 24.97 Cetus
Jun 29 2025 01h 32m 11s -17° 11’ 49” 24.96 Cetus
Jun 30 2025 01h 32m 50s -17° 14’ 29” 24.95 Cetus
Jul 01 2025 01h 33m 29s -17° 17’ 17” 24.93 Cetus
Jul 02 2025 01h 34m 07s -17° 20’ 14” 24.92 Cetus
Jul 03 2025 01h 34m 44s -17° 23’ 19” 24.91 Cetus
Jul 04 2025 01h 35m 20s -17° 26’ 34” 24.90 Cetus
Jul 05 2025 01h 35m 56s -17° 29’ 57” 24.89 Cetus
Jul 06 2025 01h 36m 31s -17° 33’ 27” 24.88 Cetus
Jul 07 2025 01h 37m 05s -17° 37’ 07” 24.87 Cetus

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