Asteroid 3200 Phaethon

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.

Asteroid 3200 Phaethon is currently in the constellation of Taurus. The current Right Ascension of Asteroid 3200 Phaethon is 04h 16m 43s and the Declination is +27° 37’ 02” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt). The current magnitude of Asteroid 3200 Phaethon is 18.76 (JPL).

Today's rise, transit and set times of Asteroid 3200 Phaethon from Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

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Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Asteroid 3200 Phaethon?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Asteroid 3200 Phaethon from Earth?)
• When does Asteroid 3200 Phaethon rise and set?
• Brightness (see also How bright is Asteroid 3200 Phaethon?)
• 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.

Higher 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.

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.

Asteroid 3200 Phaethon Distance from Earth

The distance of Asteroid 3200 Phaethon from Earth is currently 446,895,632 kilometers, equivalent to 2.987313 Astronomical Units. Light takes 24 minutes and 50.6834 seconds to travel from Asteroid 3200 Phaethon and arrive to us.

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.

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 of Asteroid 3200 Phaethon to Earth

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:

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

Asteroid 3200 Phaethon Brightness and 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.

Visualization of Asteroid 3200 Phaethon Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Asteroid 3200 Phaethon with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Asteroid 3200 Phaethon and the planets along their orbits in this diagram accurately represents the current configuration of the objects in the Solar System. This is an experimental feature and it requires a WebGL enabled browser. Please provide us feedback!

Asteroid 3200 Phaethon 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Asteroid 3200 Phaethon computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Asteroid 3200 Phaethon in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
2023 Jun 02	04h 03m 38s	+27° 17’ 53”	18.77	Taurus
2023 Jun 03	04h 05m 25s	+27° 20’ 43”	18.77	Taurus
2023 Jun 04	04h 07m 14s	+27° 23’ 29”	18.77	Taurus
2023 Jun 05	04h 09m 02s	+27° 26’ 12”	18.77	Taurus
2023 Jun 06	04h 10m 50s	+27° 28’ 51”	18.76	Taurus
2023 Jun 07	04h 12m 39s	+27° 31’ 28”	18.76	Taurus
2023 Jun 08	04h 14m 30s	+27° 34’ 02”	18.76	Taurus
2023 Jun 09	04h 16m 20s	+27° 36’ 33”	18.76	Taurus
2023 Jun 10	04h 18m 11s	+27° 39’ 02”	18.76	Taurus
2023 Jun 11	04h 20m 03s	+27° 41’ 26”	18.76	Taurus
2023 Jun 12	04h 21m 55s	+27° 43’ 45”	18.75	Taurus
2023 Jun 13	04h 23m 48s	+27° 46’ 02”	18.75	Taurus
2023 Jun 14	04h 25m 41s	+27° 48’ 16”	18.75	Taurus
2023 Jun 15	04h 27m 33s	+27° 50’ 26”	18.75	Taurus