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public  Mühlingen, Alemania Mühlingen, Alemania  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/Berlin
Sunrise: 5:33 
Transit: 13:28 
Sunset: 21:23
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Dwarf Planets and Asteroids » 

Asteroid 9 Metis

Above the horizon.  Rise: 16:11 | Tran: 21:04 | Set: 2:01
Alt: 2.79°   Az: 245.02°   Direction: West-South-West

Asteroid 9 Metis is in the constellation of Libra, at a distance of 306,067,710.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 14h 37m 01s and the Declination is -14° 16’ 16” (apparent coordinates). The magnitude of asteroid 9 Metis is 10.97.

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of asteroid 9 Metis in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

Star map showing the position of asteroid 9 Metis in the constellation of Libra on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.
Star map showing the position of asteroid 9 Metis in the constellation of Libra 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 9 Metis 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.

9 Metis
RA: 14h 35m 37s
Dec: -14° 09’ 40”
Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of asteroid 9 Metis. Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

14h 37m 01s
-14° 16’ 16”
04h 36m 24s
19h 13m 26s

J2000

14h 35m 37s
-14° 09’ 40”

Additional Information

Libra
10.97

Rise and Set Times

The following table lists today's rise, transit and set times of asteroid 9 Metis from Mühlingen, Alemania (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/Berlin):

Azimuth: 104.3°
Max altitude: 27.8°
Azimuth: 255.8°

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 9 Metis from Earth is currently 306,067,710.0 kilometers, equivalent to 2.0459362728 Astronomical Units. Light takes 17m 0.932s to travel from asteroid 9 Metis and arrive to us.

306,067,710.0
2.0459362728
17m 0.932s

The following graph shows the distance of asteroid 9 Metis 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 9 Metis 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 9 Metis 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 9 Metis to Earth happened on Thursday 7 December 1916 at a distance of 1.107641 Astronomical Units, or 165,700,805 kilometers:

Thursday 7 December 1916
165,700,805
1.107641

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 9 Metis, 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 9 Metis as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of asteroid 9 Metis at epoch September, 12 2023 00:00 UTC (JD: 2460200.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.12314872
Orbit inclination i 5.57784939°
Perihelion distance q 2.09274436 AU
313,070,101 km
Aphelion distance Q 2.68057219 AU
401,007,892 km
Semi-major axis a 2.38665827 AU
357,038,996 km
Orbital period period 3.6872 years
1,346.7401 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp November 6, 2023
2,460,255.0118 JD
Next perihelion transit July 15, 2027
2,461,601.7519 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 5.7479145141883°
Longitude of the ascending node node 68.868596344893°
Mean anomaly M 345.42832037731°
Mean motion n 0.26731216°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of asteroid 9 Metis 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 9 Metis. The source for this data is the JPL Small-Body Database.

Physical Parameter Value Relative to Earth
Diameter 190 km 0.0149
Sideral Rotation 5.0790 hours 0.2122
Absolute Magnitude 6.28
Geometric Albedo 0.118

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of asteroid 9 Metis 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 28 2025 14h 36m 42s -13° 57’ 46” 10.82 Libra
Jun 29 2025 14h 36m 39s -13° 59’ 44” 10.84 Libra
Jun 30 2025 14h 36m 37s -14° 01’ 48” 10.86 Libra
Jul 01 2025 14h 36m 37s -14° 03’ 58” 10.88 Libra
Jul 02 2025 14h 36m 39s -14° 06’ 14” 10.90 Libra
Jul 03 2025 14h 36m 42s -14° 08’ 36” 10.92 Libra
Jul 04 2025 14h 36m 47s -14° 11’ 05” 10.94 Libra
Jul 05 2025 14h 36m 53s -14° 13’ 39” 10.96 Libra
Jul 06 2025 14h 37m 01s -14° 16’ 19” 10.97 Libra
Jul 07 2025 14h 37m 10s -14° 19’ 04” 10.99 Libra
Jul 08 2025 14h 37m 21s -14° 21’ 56” 11.01 Libra
Jul 09 2025 14h 37m 33s -14° 24’ 53” 11.03 Libra
Jul 10 2025 14h 37m 46s -14° 27’ 56” 11.05 Libra
Jul 11 2025 14h 38m 01s -14° 31’ 03” 11.06 Libra

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