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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 2 Pallas

Below the horizon.  Rise: 20:11 | Tran: 3:45 | Set: 11:15
Alt: -9.14°   Az: 313.38°   Direction: South-South-West

Asteroid 2 Pallas is in the constellation of Delphinus, at a distance of 410,167,328.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 21h 03m 26s and the Declination is +17° 20’ 06” (apparent coordinates). The magnitude of asteroid 2 Pallas is 9.83.

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of asteroid 2 Pallas in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

Star map showing the position of asteroid 2 Pallas in the constellation of Delphinus on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.
Star map showing the position of asteroid 2 Pallas in the constellation of Delphinus 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 2 Pallas 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.

2 Pallas
RA: 21h 02m 15s
Dec: +17° 14’ 01”
Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of asteroid 2 Pallas. Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

21h 03m 26s
+17° 20’ 06”
08h 45m 01s
05h 48m 28s

J2000

21h 02m 15s
+17° 14’ 01”

Additional Information

Delphinus
9.83

Rise and Set Times

The following table lists today's rise, transit and set times of asteroid 2 Pallas from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 72.7°
Max altitude: 55.8°
Azimuth: 287.3°

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 2 Pallas from Earth is currently 410,167,328.0 kilometers, equivalent to 2.7417992387 Astronomical Units. Light takes 22m 48.171s to travel from asteroid 2 Pallas and arrive to us.

410,167,328.0
2.7417992387
22m 48.171s

The following graph shows the distance of asteroid 2 Pallas 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 2 Pallas 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 2 Pallas 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, 1600 and December 30, 2499, the closest approach of asteroid 2 Pallas to Earth happened on Saturday 16 February 1608 at a distance of 1.193832 Astronomical Units, or 178,594,670 kilometers:

Saturday 16 February 1608
178,594,670
1.193832

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 2 Pallas, 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 2 Pallas as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of asteroid 2 Pallas at epoch February, 24 2023 00:00 UTC (JD: 2460000.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.23008437
Orbit inclination i 34.92703056°
Perihelion distance q 2.13238273 AU
318,999,917 km
Aphelion distance Q 3.40688064 AU
509,662,090 km
Semi-major axis a 2.76963168 AU
414,331,003 km
Orbital period period 4.6094 years
1,683.5711 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp March 7, 2023
2,460,010.5573 JD
Next perihelion transit October 15, 2027
2,461,694.1284 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 310.86479846644°
Longitude of the ascending node node 172.918132705°
Mean anomaly M 357.84943175674°
Mean motion n 0.21383119°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of asteroid 2 Pallas 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 2 Pallas. The source for this data is the JPL Small-Body Database.

Physical Parameter Value Relative to Earth
Diameter 545 km 0.0428
Sideral Rotation 7.8132 hours 0.3264
Absolute Magnitude 4.13
Geometric Albedo 0.1587

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of asteroid 2 Pallas 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 21h 06m 05s +17° 05’ 32” 9.92 Delphinus
Jun 20 2025 21h 05m 47s +17° 08’ 04” 9.91 Delphinus
Jun 21 2025 21h 05m 28s +17° 10’ 26” 9.90 Delphinus
Jun 22 2025 21h 05m 08s +17° 12’ 37” 9.89 Delphinus
Jun 23 2025 21h 04m 47s +17° 14’ 37” 9.87 Delphinus
Jun 24 2025 21h 04m 25s +17° 16’ 27” 9.86 Delphinus
Jun 25 2025 21h 04m 01s +17° 18’ 04” 9.85 Delphinus
Jun 26 2025 21h 03m 37s +17° 19’ 30” 9.84 Delphinus
Jun 27 2025 21h 03m 12s +17° 20’ 43” 9.82 Delphinus
Jun 28 2025 21h 02m 45s +17° 21’ 45” 9.81 Delphinus
Jun 29 2025 21h 02m 18s +17° 22’ 35” 9.80 Delphinus
Jun 30 2025 21h 01m 50s +17° 23’ 11” 9.78 Delphinus
Jul 01 2025 21h 01m 20s +17° 23’ 35” 9.77 Delphinus
Jul 02 2025 21h 00m 50s +17° 23’ 45” 9.76 Delphinus

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