Pioneer 10
Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to traverse the asteroid belt and make a flyby of Jupiter, providing valuable data on the gas giant and its moons. Launched on March 2, 1972, Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to achieve escape velocity from the Solar System and enter interstellar space. Its mission ended on March 31, 1997, after over 25 years of operation and communication with Earth. Pioneer 10 carried a plaque designed to serve as a message to any extraterrestrial life that might encounter the spacecraft in the future. The plaque depicted a man and a woman, along with various symbols and information about our location in the galaxy. Pioneer 10 has now traveled over 12 billion miles away from Earth.
Pioneer 10 is in the constellation of
Taurus,
at a distance of
Finder Charts
View interactive star map
High precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Pioneer 10 is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.
Also check out Where is Pioneer 10?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Pioneer 10 in the sky and additional links to sky charts.
Celestial Coordinates
Apparent
J2000
Additional Information
Rise and Set Times
Today's rise,
transit and set times of
Pioneer 10 from
Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):
Azimuth: 63.9°
Max altitude: 64.6°
Azimuth: 296.1°
- Pioneer 10 is
above the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
- Right now it is placed in the West-South-West direction at an altitude of 50.85° above the horizon.
- Go to interactive sky chart
If you need to access this information frequently for your observations, you can create a simple
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Distance from Earth
- Pioneer 10 is above the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
- Right now it is placed in the West-South-West direction at an altitude of 50.85° above the horizon.
- Go to interactive sky chart
The distance of Pioneer 10 from Earth is currently
The following chart shows the distance of Pioneer 10 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 Pioneer 10 from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.
Closest Approach
Between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2049, the closest approach of Pioneer 10 to Earth happens on Tue Jan 1 2013 at a distance of 106.506795 Astronomical Units, or 15,933,189,771 kilometers:
NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.
15 Days Ephemeris
The following table lists the ephemerides of Pioneer 10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 Jan 30 | 05h 16m 06s | +26° 03’ 56” | N.A. | Taurus |
| 2025 Jan 31 | 05h 16m 05s | +26° 03’ 54” | N.A. | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 01 | 05h 16m 03s | +26° 03’ 52” | N.A. | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 02 | 05h 16m 02s | +26° 03’ 49” | N.A. | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 03 | 05h 16m 01s | +26° 03’ 47” | N.A. | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 04 | 05h 16m 00s | +26° 03’ 45” | N.A. | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 05 | 05h 15m 59s | +26° 03’ 43” | N.A. | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 06 | 05h 15m 58s | +26° 03’ 40” | N.A. | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 07 | 05h 15m 57s | +26° 03’ 38” | N.A. | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 08 | 05h 15m 56s | +26° 03’ 36” | N.A. | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 09 | 05h 15m 55s | +26° 03’ 34” | N.A. | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 10 | 05h 15m 54s | +26° 03’ 32” | N.A. | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 11 | 05h 15m 53s | +26° 03’ 30” | N.A. | Taurus |
| 2025 Feb 12 | 05h 15m 53s | +26° 03’ 27” | N.A. | Taurus |
Additional Resources
- Position and finder charts (see also Where is Pioneer 10?)
- Distance from Earth (see also How far is Pioneer 10 from Earth?)
- When does Pioneer 10 rise and set?
- Interactive orbit visualization. 3d visualization showing the orbit of Pioneer 10 with respect to the major Solar System objects.
- 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Pioneer 10 for the past and next 7 days.
- Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Pioneer 10 in the sky from your location.
- Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Pioneer 10 with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.