main-belt asteroid
Psyche
A large metal-rich asteroid that may be the exposed core of a shattered protoplanet, and the target of NASA's Psyche mission.
- Distance from Earth today
- 517.5 million km3.459 AU · light: 28 min 46 s
- Distance from the Sun today
- 463.2 million km3.096 AU
- As of
- 2 November 2026position from NASA/JPL orbital elements
Where it is today
Top view of the plane of Earth’s orbit, compressed distance scale. Open on the big map with the time slider →
Facts
- Diameter
- 222 km
- Dimensions
- 278 × 238 × 171 km
- Mass
- 24.0 × 10¹⁸ kg
- Density
- 4,172 kg/m³
- Rotation period
- 4.2 h
- Semi-major axis
- 2.926 AU (437.7 million km)
- Perihelion
- 2.529 AU
- Aphelion
- 3.323 AU
- Orbital period
- 5.01 years
- Orbital eccentricity
- 0.136
- Orbital inclination
- 3.1°
- Last perihelion
- 30 April 2025
- Next perihelion
- 2 May 2030
- Minimum orbit distance from Earth’s orbit (MOID)
- 1.533 AU (229.4 million km)
- Albedo
- 0.120
Source of the figures: JPL Small-Body Database (public domain).
Discovery: 1852 – Annibale de Gasparis
Description
Psyche is one of the largest asteroids in the main belt, discovered by Annibale de Gasparis in 1852. Radar and infrared observations suggest that its surface contains a lot of metal, so it may be part of the iron-nickel core of an early protoplanet whose outer layers were stripped away by collisions – offering an indirect look at the kind of material locked deep inside planets like Earth. To test that idea, NASA launched the Psyche spacecraft in 2023; it is cruising toward the asteroid with electric propulsion and is due to arrive at the end of the decade.