Bright asteroids

The table below lists asteroids that are currently bright enough for amateur telescopes. Near-earth objects are not included in this list.
For detailed information about one of the listed asteroids, click on its name/designation.

Asteroid Today Opposition
designation magn radius delta elong phase date magn radius delta elong phase
(1) Ceres6.92.57 AU1.61 AU160.9°7.3°20 Mar 20236.92.57 AU1.60 AU163.1°6.5°
(2) Pallas8.22.14 AU1.75 AU98.3°27.5°19 May 20249.02.95 AU2.17 AU133.0°14.5°
(4) Vesta8.42.49 AU3.44 AU14.8°5.9°21 Dec 20236.42.57 AU1.58 AU177.1°1.1°
(3) Juno9.71.99 AU2.75 AU32.9°15.8°3 Mar 20248.62.68 AU1.69 AU177.6°0.9°
(7) Iris10.32.92 AU2.08 AU140.9°12.4°30 Apr 20239.62.93 AU1.93 AU174.6°1.9°
(6) Hebe10.32.60 AU2.07 AU111.0°21.0°22 Apr 20249.92.89 AU1.93 AU158.5°7.3°
(17) Thetis10.82.30 AU1.33 AU164.1°6.8°8 Apr 202310.62.29 AU1.30 AU170.5°4.1°
(40) Harmonia10.82.37 AU1.49 AU143.9°14.4°27 Feb 202310.12.36 AU1.38 AU173.4°2.8°
(9) Metis10.92.27 AU3.26 AU5.2°2.3°22 Dec 20238.42.10 AU1.12 AU176.1°1.8°
(15) Eunomia10.92.87 AU2.83 AU82.5°20.1°7 Jul 20238.82.70 AU1.68 AU177.4°1.0°
(114) Kassandra11.12.35 AU1.35 AU176.5°1.5°28 Mar 202311.12.35 AU1.35 AU176.4°1.5°
(405) Thia11.12.00 AU1.06 AU150.7°14.1°12 Mar 202311.02.02 AU1.06 AU157.1°11.1°
(11) Parthenope11.12.41 AU1.90 AU108.3°23.2°5 Jun 20239.52.34 AU1.33 AU173.6°2.8°
(22) Kalliope11.23.07 AU2.11 AU162.1°5.7°3 Apr 202311.13.07 AU2.10 AU163.9°5.2°
(18) Melpomene11.22.03 AU2.69 AU39.8°18.3°5 Nov 20238.21.82 AU0.86 AU159.2°11.1°
(654) Zelinda11.31.82 AU1.06 AU124.0°27.1°11 Feb 202310.41.77 AU0.84 AU152.0°15.2°
(44) Nysa11.42.51 AU1.87 AU119.3°20.3°21 May 202310.32.59 AU1.58 AU174.2°2.3°
(29) Amphitrite11.42.57 AU3.33 AU33.9°12.5°1 Oct 20238.82.43 AU1.43 AU177.7°1.0°
(532) Herculina11.42.69 AU2.93 AU66.1°19.8°7 Apr 20249.12.28 AU1.35 AU151.7°12.0°
(27) Euterpe11.41.95 AU2.12 AU66.7°28.0°5 May 202410.32.59 AU1.58 AU178.0°0.8°
(32) Pomona11.42.38 AU1.54 AU138.4°16.1°3 May 202310.42.39 AU1.38 AU179.1°0.4°
(10) Hygiea11.42.92 AU3.29 AU59.5°17.2°10 Aug 20239.73.05 AU2.04 AU176.8°1.1°
(192) Nausikaa11.41.86 AU2.74 AU22.9°12.1°9 Feb 202410.62.64 AU1.66 AU175.7°1.6°
(96) Aegle11.42.63 AU1.66 AU160.8°7.2°20 Mar 202311.42.62 AU1.65 AU163.9°6.0°
(760) Massinga11.52.41 AU1.50 AU150.1°11.9°3 Mar 202310.92.42 AU1.43 AU175.6°1.8°
(16) Psyche11.53.27 AU2.52 AU131.7°13.2°10 May 202310.63.25 AU2.24 AU175.6°1.4°
(39) Laetitia11.52.92 AU2.49 AU105.2°19.3°7 Jun 202310.32.84 AU1.85 AU164.2°5.6°
(8) Flora11.52.27 AU2.61 AU59.8°22.3°26 Aug 20238.52.01 AU1.00 AU171.9°4.0°
(704) Interamnia11.62.58 AU3.53 AU16.1°6.2°17 Dec 202310.22.83 AU1.85 AU172.9°2.5°
(68) Leto11.63.26 AU2.27 AU173.0°2.1°27 Mar 202311.63.26 AU2.27 AU173.0°2.1°
(20) Massalia11.72.67 AU2.35 AU97.7°21.7°16 Jun 202310.02.73 AU1.71 AU179.0°0.4°
(349) Dembowska11.72.85 AU3.07 AU67.8°18.9°27 Feb 202410.53.12 AU2.14 AU170.2°3.1°
(432) Pythia11.82.23 AU1.27 AU158.6°9.4°30 Mar 202311.82.22 AU1.26 AU158.7°9.4°
(216) Kleopatra11.92.13 AU2.87 AU34.5°15.4°14 Feb 202411.32.87 AU1.91 AU161.3°6.3°
(354) Eleonora11.92.82 AU3.60 AU32.8°11.1°18 Jan 20249.52.52 AU1.55 AU168.4°4.5°
A880 GB11.92.13 AU2.87 AU34.5°15.4°14 Feb 202411.32.86 AU1.91 AU161.3°6.3°
(145) Adeona11.92.53 AU1.60 AU153.8°10.0°14 Apr 202311.72.56 AU1.58 AU163.4°6.4°
(111) Ate11.92.41 AU1.54 AU142.5°14.6°25 Feb 202311.12.39 AU1.40 AU175.7°1.8°
(89) Julia11.92.87 AU2.38 AU109.1°19.2°10 Apr 202411.22.96 AU2.01 AU157.3°7.5°


For each of the asteroids listed, the current position is plotted in the below all-sky chart:





    Terminology:
            
    delta:      Distance between asteroid and earth in AU
    radius:     Distance between asteroid and sun in AU
    magn:       Magnitude (brightness) estimate    
    elong:      Elongation in degrees (angle sun-earth-asteroid)    
    AU:         Astronomical Unit (mean distance between earth and sun: 149597870.7 km    
    Perihelion: On this date the comet (or other type of body) is closest to the sun
    

Orbital elements provided by the MPC (Minor Planet Center).
Calculations by a modified version of AAPlus, a C# implementation of the AA+ project by PJ Naughter from the algorithms presented in the book "Astronomical Algorithms" by Jean Meeus.
NGC2000 dso catalog and star labels from VizieR as provided by the Strasbourg astronomical Data Center.
Tycho2 catalog from the ESO archive.