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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 4:45 
Transit: 13:02 
Sunset: 21:19
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Dwarf Planets and Asteroids » 

Asteroid 5 Astraea

Below the horizon.  Rise: 18:42 | Tran: 23:22 | Set: 4:06
Alt: -53.44°   Az: 357.34°   Direction: South

Asteroid 5 Astraea is in the constellation of Ophiuchus, at a distance of 265,731,458.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 16h 43m 44s and the Declination is -14° 56’ 32” (apparent coordinates). The magnitude of asteroid 5 Astraea is 11.03.

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of asteroid 5 Astraea in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

Star map showing the position of asteroid 5 Astraea in the constellation of Ophiuchus on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.
Star map showing the position of asteroid 5 Astraea in the constellation of Ophiuchus 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 5 Astraea 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.

5 Astraea
RA: 16h 42m 17s
Dec: -14° 53’ 44”
Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of asteroid 5 Astraea. Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

16h 43m 44s
-14° 56’ 32”
11h 53m 26s
04h 37m 11s

J2000

16h 42m 17s
-14° 53’ 44”

Additional Information

Ophiuchus
11.03

Rise and Set Times

The following table lists today's rise, transit and set times of asteroid 5 Astraea from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 104.9°
Max altitude: 23.6°
Azimuth: 255.1°

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 5 Astraea from Earth is currently 265,731,458.0 kilometers, equivalent to 1.7763050821 Astronomical Units. Light takes 14m 46.385s to travel from asteroid 5 Astraea and arrive to us.

265,731,458.0
1.7763050821
14m 46.385s

The following graph shows the distance of asteroid 5 Astraea 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 5 Astraea 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 5 Astraea 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, 1900 and December 31, 2099, the closest approach of asteroid 5 Astraea to Earth happened on Friday 13 February 1925 at a distance of 1.093100 Astronomical Units, or 163,525,365 kilometers:

Friday 13 February 1925
163,525,365
1.093100

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 5 Astraea, 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 5 Astraea as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of asteroid 5 Astraea at epoch February, 24 2023 00:00 UTC (JD: 2460000.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.18792368
Orbit inclination i 5.36012857°
Perihelion distance q 2.09409950 AU
313,272,827 km
Aphelion distance Q 3.06329633 AU
458,262,609 km
Semi-major axis a 2.57869792 AU
385,767,718 km
Orbital period period 4.1410 years
1,512.5131 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp May 6, 2024
2,460,437.3258 JD
Next perihelion transit June 27, 2028
2,461,949.8389 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 358.88655645318°
Longitude of the ascending node node 141.52276093715°
Mean anomaly M 256.0291368156°
Mean motion n 0.23801448°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of asteroid 5 Astraea relative to the other major objects in the Solar System. You can access more advanced features using our 3D Solar System Viewer.

Physical Properties

The table below lists the known key physical properties of asteroid 5 Astraea. The source for this data is the JPL Small-Body Database.

Physical Parameter Value Relative to Earth
Diameter 119.07 km 0.0093
Sideral Rotation 16.8000 hours 0.7019
Absolute Magnitude 6.85
Geometric Albedo 0.2268

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of asteroid 5 Astraea 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 19 2025 16h 49m 44s -14° 51’ 57” 10.85 Ophiuchus
Jun 20 2025 16h 48m 52s -14° 52’ 21” 10.87 Ophiuchus
Jun 21 2025 16h 48m 01s -14° 52’ 49” 10.90 Ophiuchus
Jun 22 2025 16h 47m 12s -14° 53’ 21” 10.92 Ophiuchus
Jun 23 2025 16h 46m 23s -14° 53’ 56” 10.95 Ophiuchus
Jun 24 2025 16h 45m 35s -14° 54’ 37” 10.97 Ophiuchus
Jun 25 2025 16h 44m 48s -14° 55’ 22” 11.00 Ophiuchus
Jun 26 2025 16h 44m 03s -14° 56’ 10” 11.02 Ophiuchus
Jun 27 2025 16h 43m 18s -14° 57’ 04” 11.05 Ophiuchus
Jun 28 2025 16h 42m 35s -14° 58’ 02” 11.07 Ophiuchus
Jun 29 2025 16h 41m 53s -14° 59’ 05” 11.10 Ophiuchus
Jun 30 2025 16h 41m 12s -15° 00’ 11” 11.12 Ophiuchus
Jul 01 2025 16h 40m 33s -15° 01’ 22” 11.15 Ophiuchus
Jul 02 2025 16h 39m 55s -15° 02’ 38” 11.17 Ophiuchus

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