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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 5:04 
Transit: 13:06 
Sunset: 21:07
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Dwarf Planets and Asteroids » 

Asteroid 5 Astraea

Below the horizon.  Rise: 17:12 | Tran: 21:49 | Set: 2:30
Alt: -18.68°   Az: 268.38°   Direction: West

Asteroid 5 Astraea is in the constellation of Ophiuchus, at a distance of 294,252,638.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 16h 33m 14s and the Declination is -15° 29’ 59” (apparent coordinates). The magnitude of asteroid 5 Astraea is 11.52.

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of asteroid 5 Astraea in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

Star map showing the position of asteroid 5 Astraea in the constellation of Ophiuchus on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.
Star map showing the position of asteroid 5 Astraea in the constellation of Ophiuchus 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 5 Astraea 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.

5 Astraea
RA: 16h 31m 47s
Dec: -15° 26’ 48”
Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of asteroid 5 Astraea. Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

16h 33m 14s
-15° 29’ 59”
06h 42m 40s
23h 15m 55s

J2000

16h 31m 47s
-15° 26’ 48”

Additional Information

Ophiuchus
11.52

Rise and Set Times

The following table lists today's rise, transit and set times of asteroid 5 Astraea from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 105.5°
Max altitude: 23.0°
Azimuth: 254.5°

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 5 Astraea from Earth is currently 294,252,638.0 kilometers, equivalent to 1.9669573947 Astronomical Units. Light takes 16m 21.521s to travel from asteroid 5 Astraea and arrive to us.

294,252,638.0
1.9669573947
16m 21.521s

The following graph shows the distance of asteroid 5 Astraea 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 5 Astraea 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 5 Astraea 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 5 Astraea to Earth happened on Friday 13 February 1925 at a distance of 1.093100 Astronomical Units, or 163,525,365 kilometers:

Friday 13 February 1925
163,525,365
1.093100

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 5 Astraea, 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 5 Astraea as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of asteroid 5 Astraea at epoch February, 24 2023 00:00 UTC (JD: 2460000.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.18792368
Orbit inclination i 5.36012857°
Perihelion distance q 2.09409950 AU
313,272,827 km
Aphelion distance Q 3.06329633 AU
458,262,609 km
Semi-major axis a 2.57869792 AU
385,767,718 km
Orbital period period 4.1410 years
1,512.5131 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp May 6, 2024
2,460,437.3258 JD
Next perihelion transit June 27, 2028
2,461,949.8389 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 358.88655645318°
Longitude of the ascending node node 141.52276093715°
Mean anomaly M 256.0291368156°
Mean motion n 0.23801448°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of asteroid 5 Astraea 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 5 Astraea. The source for this data is the JPL Small-Body Database.

Physical Parameter Value Relative to Earth
Diameter 119.07 km 0.0093
Sideral Rotation 16.8000 hours 0.7019
Absolute Magnitude 6.85
Geometric Albedo 0.2268

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of asteroid 5 Astraea 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
Jul 10 2025 16h 35m 42s -15° 15’ 11” 11.36 Ophiuchus
Jul 11 2025 16h 35m 16s -15° 17’ 04” 11.39 Ophiuchus
Jul 12 2025 16h 34m 53s -15° 19’ 00” 11.41 Ophiuchus
Jul 13 2025 16h 34m 31s -15° 21’ 01” 11.43 Ophiuchus
Jul 14 2025 16h 34m 10s -15° 23’ 05” 11.46 Ophiuchus
Jul 15 2025 16h 33m 51s -15° 25’ 12” 11.48 Ophiuchus
Jul 16 2025 16h 33m 33s -15° 27’ 24” 11.50 Ophiuchus
Jul 17 2025 16h 33m 17s -15° 29’ 38” 11.52 Ophiuchus
Jul 18 2025 16h 33m 03s -15° 31’ 58” 11.55 Ophiuchus
Jul 19 2025 16h 32m 50s -15° 34’ 19” 11.57 Ophiuchus
Jul 20 2025 16h 32m 38s -15° 36’ 46” 11.59 Ophiuchus
Jul 21 2025 16h 32m 28s -15° 39’ 15” 11.61 Ophiuchus
Jul 22 2025 16h 32m 20s -15° 41’ 47” 11.63 Ophiuchus
Jul 23 2025 16h 32m 13s -15° 44’ 22” 11.66 Ophiuchus

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