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TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 4:45 
Transit: 13:02 
Sunset: 21:19
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Dwarf Planets and Asteroids » 

Asteroid 16 Psyche

Below the horizon.  Rise: 2:42 | Tran: 10:03 | Set: 17:24
Alt: -15.97°   Az: 35.50°   Direction: South-South-West

Asteroid 16 Psyche is in the constellation of Aries, at a distance of 476,892,582.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 03h 15m 44s and the Declination is +15° 47’ 28” (apparent coordinates). The magnitude of asteroid 16 Psyche is 11.49.

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 Aries 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 Aries 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 14m 18s
Dec: +15° 41’ 51”
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 15m 44s
+15° 47’ 28”
14h 21m 51s
17h 37m 35s

J2000

03h 14m 18s
+15° 41’ 51”

Additional Information

Aries
11.49

Rise and Set Times

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

Azimuth: 74.3°
Max altitude: 54.3°
Azimuth: 285.8°

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 476,892,582.0 kilometers, equivalent to 3.1878300123 Astronomical Units. Light takes 26m 30.742s to travel from asteroid 16 Psyche and arrive to us.

476,892,582.0
3.1878300123
26m 30.742s

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 17 2025 03h 02m 06s +14° 57’ 22” 11.49 Aries
Jun 18 2025 03h 03m 49s +15° 03’ 55” 11.49 Aries
Jun 19 2025 03h 05m 33s +15° 10’ 23” 11.49 Aries
Jun 20 2025 03h 07m 16s +15° 16’ 47” 11.49 Aries
Jun 21 2025 03h 08m 58s +15° 23’ 06” 11.49 Aries
Jun 22 2025 03h 10m 40s +15° 29’ 21” 11.49 Aries
Jun 23 2025 03h 12m 22s +15° 35’ 30” 11.49 Aries
Jun 24 2025 03h 14m 04s +15° 41’ 36” 11.49 Aries
Jun 25 2025 03h 15m 46s +15° 47’ 37” 11.49 Aries
Jun 26 2025 03h 17m 28s +15° 53’ 32” 11.49 Aries
Jun 27 2025 03h 19m 09s +15° 59’ 23” 11.49 Aries
Jun 28 2025 03h 20m 50s +16° 05’ 09” 11.49 Aries
Jun 29 2025 03h 22m 32s +16° 10’ 50” 11.49 Aries
Jun 30 2025 03h 24m 13s +16° 16’ 26” 11.49 Aries

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