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public  Kammerstein, Germania Kammerstein, Germania  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/Berlin
Sunrise: 5:20 
Transit: 13:21 
Sunset: 21:21
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Dwarf Planets and Asteroids » 

Asteroid 16 Psyche

Above the horizon.  Rise: 2:29 | Tran: 9:50 | Set: 17:11
Alt: 26.27°   Az: 94.39°   Direction: East

Asteroid 16 Psyche is in the constellation of Taurus, at a distance of 461,406,961.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 03h 36m 07s and the Declination is +16° 54’ 08” (apparent coordinates). The magnitude of asteroid 16 Psyche is 11.48.

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of asteroid 16 Psyche in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

Star map showing the position of asteroid 16 Psyche in the constellation of Taurus on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.
Star map showing the position of asteroid 16 Psyche in the constellation of Taurus 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 16 Psyche 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.

16 Psyche
RA: 03h 34m 40s
Dec: +16° 49’ 06”
Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of asteroid 16 Psyche. Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

03h 36m 07s
+16° 54’ 08”
19h 23m 25s
22h 59m 32s

J2000

03h 34m 40s
+16° 49’ 06”

Additional Information

Taurus
11.48

Rise and Set Times

The following table lists today's rise, transit and set times of asteroid 16 Psyche from Kammerstein, Germania (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/Berlin):

Azimuth: 73.1°
Max altitude: 57.6°
Azimuth: 286.9°

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 16 Psyche from Earth is currently 461,406,961.0 kilometers, equivalent to 3.0843150296 Astronomical Units. Light takes 25m 39.088s to travel from asteroid 16 Psyche and arrive to us.

461,406,961.0
3.0843150296
25m 39.088s

The following graph shows the distance of asteroid 16 Psyche 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 16 Psyche 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 16 Psyche 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 16 Psyche to Earth happened on Friday 24 November 1905 at a distance of 1.641628 Astronomical Units, or 245,584,060 kilometers:

Friday 24 November 1905
245,584,060
1.641628

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 16 Psyche, 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 16 Psyche as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of asteroid 16 Psyche at epoch February, 24 2023 00:00 UTC (JD: 2460000.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.13411742
Orbit inclination i 3.09684542°
Perihelion distance q 2.53196623 AU
378,776,757 km
Aphelion distance Q 3.31632379 AU
496,114,979 km
Semi-major axis a 2.92414501 AU
437,445,868 km
Orbital period period 5.0004 years
1,826.4037 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp April 27, 2025
2,460,792.8590 JD
Next perihelion transit April 27, 2030
2,462,619.2627 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 229.32824981988°
Longitude of the ascending node node 150.03080705°
Mean anomaly M 203.81918294997°
Mean motion n 0.19710866°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of asteroid 16 Psyche 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 16 Psyche. The source for this data is the JPL Small-Body Database.

Physical Parameter Value Relative to Earth
Diameter 253.16 km 0.0199
Sideral Rotation 4.1960 hours 0.1753
Absolute Magnitude 5.9
Geometric Albedo 0.1203

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of asteroid 16 Psyche 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 30 2025 03h 24m 13s +16° 16’ 27” 11.49 Aries
Jul 01 2025 03h 25m 54s +16° 21’ 59” 11.49 Taurus
Jul 02 2025 03h 27m 34s +16° 27’ 26” 11.49 Taurus
Jul 03 2025 03h 29m 15s +16° 32’ 49” 11.49 Taurus
Jul 04 2025 03h 30m 55s +16° 38’ 06” 11.49 Taurus
Jul 05 2025 03h 32m 34s +16° 43’ 18” 11.48 Taurus
Jul 06 2025 03h 34m 14s +16° 48’ 25” 11.48 Taurus
Jul 07 2025 03h 35m 53s +16° 53’ 28” 11.48 Taurus
Jul 08 2025 03h 37m 32s +16° 58’ 25” 11.48 Taurus
Jul 09 2025 03h 39m 12s +17° 03’ 18” 11.48 Taurus
Jul 10 2025 03h 40m 51s +17° 08’ 06” 11.48 Taurus
Jul 11 2025 03h 42m 29s +17° 12’ 48” 11.48 Taurus
Jul 12 2025 03h 44m 07s +17° 17’ 27” 11.47 Taurus
Jul 13 2025 03h 45m 45s +17° 22’ 00” 11.47 Taurus

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