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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 4:44 
Transit: 13:00 
Sunset: 21:16
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2017 OF201

Above the horizon.  Rise: 0:41 | Tran: 9:35 | Set: 18:24
Alt: 57.41°   Az: 122.72°   Direction: East-South-East

2017 OF201 is a recently discovered trans-Neptunian object with a very eccentric orbit (0.95 eccentricity), a relatively high orbital inclination of 16.2° and an extremely long orbital period of approximately 25,000 years. It's semimajor orbital axis measures 878.9 Astronomical Units, equivalent to 131 billion kilometers, or 81.3 billion miles and the aphelion is at a distance of 1,713 Astronomical Units. Its most recent perihelion passage happened on November 26 1930. It's discovery is important because of the implications related to the study about the possible existence of Planet 9. This is because the gravity effects of a very large Planet 9 should displace distant trans-Neptunian objects from their original orbits and, based to these preliminary observations, 2017 OF201's orbit does not seem to be influenced by these effects.

2017 OF201 is in the constellation of Triangulum, at a distance of 13,665,667,392.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 02h 02m 48s and the Declination is +28° 32’ 44” (apparent coordinates). The magnitude of 2017 OF201 is 23.21.

Finder Charts

Map showing 2017 OF201 in Triangulum on June, 13 2025. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map
Sky map showing 2017 OF201 in Triangulum on June, 13 2025. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive sky chart

High precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where 2017 OF201 is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

2017 OF201
RA: 02h 01m 20s
Dec: +28° 25’ 24”
Deep sky finder chart for 2017 OF201. Field of view: 60x40 arcmins. View in deep sky object tracker

Also check out Where is 2017 OF201?, a page that provides all the information needed to find 2017 OF201 in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

02h 02m 48s
+28° 32’ 44”
21h 55m 46s
23h 58m 34s

J2000

02h 01m 20s
+28° 25’ 24”

Additional Information

Triangulum
23.21

Rise and Set Times

Today's rise, transit and set times of 2017 OF201 from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 61.5°
Max altitude: 67.1°
Azimuth: 298.5°
  • 2017 OF201 is above the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
  • Right now it is placed in the East-South-East direction at an altitude of 57.41° above the horizon.
  • Given its current magnitude, 2017 OF201 is visible only through long exposure photography.
  • Go to interactive sky chart

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 2017 OF201 from Earth is currently 13,665,667,392.0 kilometers, equivalent to 91.3493442658 Astronomical Units. Light takes 12h 39m 43.760s to travel from 2017 OF201 and arrive to us.

13,665,667,392.0
91.3493442658
12h 39m 43.760s

The following chart shows the distance of 2017 OF201 from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance data is measured in Astronomical Units and sampled with an interval of 1 day.

Chart of the distance of 2017 OF201 from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)

The value of the reported distance might be somewhat inaccurate around the times of closest approach for objects passing extremely close to Earth. The value of the distance of 2017 OF201 from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach

Between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2099, the closest approach of 2017 OF201 to Earth happens on Wed Oct 11 2000 at a distance of 74.044156 Astronomical Units, or 11,076,848,044 kilometers:

Wed Oct 11 2000
11,076,848,044
74.044156

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

Light Curve

The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of 2017 OF201, according to the most recent ephemerides data. Magnitude data is sampled with a 2 days interval and there might be inaccuracies for objects changing brightness very rapidly during the course of a few days. For comets there could be large discrepancies between the observed and predicted brightness because of their highly dynamic behaviour.

Chart of the magnitude of 2017 OF201 as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of 2017 OF201 at epoch 04 May 2025 00:00 UTC (JD: 2460800.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.94851849
Orbit inclination i 16.21143014°
Perihelion distance q 45.24779536 AU
6,768,973,854 km
Aphelion distance Q 1,712.57912860 AU
256,198,191,557 km
Semi-major axis a 878.91346198 AU
131,483,582,705 km
Orbital period period 26,057.1778 years
9,517,384.2038 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp 1930-Nov-26 14:57:46
2,426,307.1235 JD
Next perihelion transit 27988-Aug-12 19:51
11,943,691.3272 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 338.16252827°
Longitude of the ascending node node 328.66675011002°
Mean anomaly M 1.3047298805574°
Mean motion n 0.00003783°/day
2h1>Orbit Visualization

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of 2017 OF201 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
2025 Jun 06 02h 02m 31s +28° 30’ 31” 23.20 Triangulum
2025 Jun 07 02h 02m 34s +28° 30’ 50” 23.21 Triangulum
2025 Jun 08 02h 02m 36s +28° 31’ 08” 23.21 Triangulum
2025 Jun 09 02h 02m 38s +28° 31’ 26” 23.21 Triangulum
2025 Jun 10 02h 02m 40s +28° 31’ 44” 23.21 Triangulum
2025 Jun 11 02h 02m 42s +28° 32’ 02” 23.21 Triangulum
2025 Jun 12 02h 02m 45s +28° 32’ 21” 23.21 Triangulum
2025 Jun 13 02h 02m 47s +28° 32’ 39” 23.21 Triangulum
2025 Jun 14 02h 02m 49s +28° 32’ 57” 23.21 Triangulum
2025 Jun 15 02h 02m 51s +28° 33’ 15” 23.21 Triangulum
2025 Jun 16 02h 02m 53s +28° 33’ 33” 23.21 Triangulum
2025 Jun 17 02h 02m 55s +28° 33’ 50” 23.21 Triangulum
2025 Jun 18 02h 02m 56s +28° 34’ 08” 23.21 Triangulum
2025 Jun 19 02h 02m 58s +28° 34’ 26” 23.21 Triangulum

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