Compute the position of Asteroid 3200 Phaethon for any date and time between 1 January 1900
and 31 December 2099
and visualize the results on an interactive sky map.
Asteroid 3200 Phaethon is in the constellation of
Auriga,
at a distance of 255,048,499.0 kilometers from Earth.
The current Right Ascension is
05h 28m 25s
and the Declination is +37° 24’ 00”
(apparent coordinates).
The magnitude of Asteroid 3200 Phaethon is 18.45 (data provided by JPL Horizons).
Map showing Asteroid 3200 Phaethon in Auriga on October, 04 2024. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map
Asteroid 3200 Phaethon was discovered on October 11, 1983, by Simon Green and John K. Davies using data from the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS). Its name comes from Greek mythology, where Phaethon was the son of the sun god Helios. Phaethon is an Apollo asteroid, meaning it has a highly eccentric orbit that crosses the Earth's orbit, and it is the parent body of the Geminid meteor shower. It has a diameter of about 5.8 kilometers and an elongated, irregular shape. The surface of Phaethon is believed to be heavily cratered and covered in a layer of dust, and it may have a composition similar to some types of meteorites. Its orbit brings it closer to the Sun than any other named asteroid, with a perihelion of just 0.14 astronomical units (AU) and an aphelion of 2.4 AU. Phaethon has an orbital period of 1.4 years and rotates once on its axis every 3.6 hours.
If you need to access this information frequently for your observations, you can create a simple
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Finder Charts
Sky map showing Asteroid 3200 Phaethon in Auriga on October, 04 2024.
Field of view: 10x6 degrees. View in interactive sky chart
High precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Asteroid 3200 Phaethon is right now.
Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.
Deep sky finder chart for Asteroid 3200 Phaethon.
Field of view: 60x40 arcmins.
View in deep sky object tracker
Also check out Where is Asteroid 3200 Phaethon?,
a page that provides all the information needed to find Asteroid 3200 Phaethon in the sky and additional links to sky charts.
Distance from Earth
The distance of Asteroid 3200 Phaethon from Earth is currently 255,048,499.0 kilometers,
equivalent to 1.7048939120Astronomical Units.
Light takes
14m 10.750s to travel from Asteroid 3200 Phaethon and arrive to us.
255,048,499.0
1.7048939120
14m 10.750s
The following chart shows the distance of Asteroid 3200 Phaethon 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 Asteroid 3200 Phaethon 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 3200 Phaethon from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the
Live Position and Data Tracker.
Closest Approach
Between 1 January 1900 and 31 December 2099,
the closest approach of
Asteroid 3200 Phaethon to Earth happens on
Mon Dec 14 2093 at a distance of
0.021741 Astronomical Units, or
3,252,462 kilometers:
Mon Dec 14 2093
3,252,462
0.021741
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 Asteroid 3200 Phaethon,
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 Asteroid 3200 Phaethon as a function of time
Orbital Elements
The following table lists the orbital elements of Asteroid 3200 Phaethon at epoch
24 February 2023 00:00 UTC (JD: 2460000.5).
Source: JPL Small-Body Database
The following table lists the ephemerides of Asteroid 3200 Phaethon computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval.
Apparent celestial coordinates are provided.
Compute the position of Asteroid 3200 Phaethon for any date and time between 1 January 1900
and 31 December 2099
and display the results on an interactive star map.
Orbital elements. Detailed information
about Asteroid 3200 Phaethon orbital parameters.
Interactive orbit visualization. 3d
visualization showing the orbit of Asteroid 3200 Phaethon with respect to the major Solar System objects.
15 days ephemerides. Table
showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Asteroid 3200 Phaethon for the past and next 7 days.
Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Asteroid 3200 Phaethon in the sky from your location.
Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Asteroid 3200 Phaethon with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.
Sky map showing Asteroid 3200 Phaethon in Auriga on October, 04 2024.
Field of view: 10x6 degrees. View in interactive sky chart
Deep sky finder chart for Asteroid 3200 Phaethon.
Field of view: 60x40 arcmins.
View in deep sky object tracker