(21) Lutetia
ephemeris	date	magn	radius	delta	ra	dec	elong	phase
Today	22 Jan 2025	11.8	2.829 AU	1.937 AU	10h22m	+14°19'	149.3°	10.2°
Opposition	15 Feb 2025	11.3	2.834 AU	1.848 AU	10h02m	+16°36'	175.7°	1.5°

The interactive orbit chart above shows the body's path through the solar system and its position at the given date. Green and blue lines are shown perpendicular to the ecliptic plane: Green if the path is above the ecliptic plane, blue if it is below. (Left-click and drag to rotate the view; Right-click and drag to move the view; Use scroll wheel to zoom in our out.)

The orbital elements of Lutetia are:

            e (Eccentricity)                : 0.1646959
            a (Semimajor axis)              : 2.4341176
            i (Inclination)                 : 3.06459
            Ω (Longitude of ascending node) : 80.83729
            ω (Argument of perihelion)      : 250.03030
            M (Mean anomaly)                : 142.86885
            Epoch                           : 2024 Oct 17

            L (Longitude of perihelion)     : 150.84126
            B (Latitude of perihelion)      : -2.88017
            P (Orbital period in years)     : 3.80            
        

The light curve chart below shows the estimated development of the minor planet's magnitude.

The all-sky chart below shows the path of the minor planet over the same period as the light curve. The current position is marked yellow.

The following chart shows the path of the minor planet in the next few days. The field of view is optimized for (~10x50) binoculars and finderscopes. A more printer-friendly version of the same chart can be found below.

Ephemerides:

Date       Time       RA (2000)    DEC (2000)    delta   radius  elong  phase   PA    magn
2025-01-22 00:00 UT   10 22 52.0   +14 19 31     1.937    2.829  149.3   10.2   285   11.8 
2025-01-22 04:52 UT   10 22 44.3   +14 20 32     1.936    2.829  149.6   10.1   285   11.8 
2025-01-23 00:00 UT   10 22 13.3   +14 24 34     1.930    2.829  150.5    9.9   284   11.8 
2025-01-24 00:00 UT   10 21 33.3   +14 29 41     1.924    2.829  151.7    9.5   284   11.8 
2025-01-25 00:00 UT   10 20 51.9   +14 34 55     1.917    2.829  152.9    9.1   283   11.8 
2025-01-26 00:00 UT   10 20 09.3   +14 40 13     1.911    2.830  154.1    8.7   283   11.8 
2025-01-27 00:00 UT   10 19 25.4   +14 45 35     1.905    2.830  155.3    8.4   282   11.7 
2025-01-28 00:00 UT   10 18 40.3   +14 51 02     1.900    2.830  156.5    8.0   282   11.7 
2025-01-29 00:00 UT   10 17 54.1   +14 56 33     1.894    2.830  157.7    7.6   281   11.7 
2025-01-30 00:00 UT   10 17 06.7   +15 02 08     1.889    2.831  158.9    7.2   280   11.7 
2025-01-31 00:00 UT   10 16 18.3   +15 07 46     1.885    2.831  160.1    6.8   280   11.6 
2025-02-01 00:00 UT   10 15 28.8   +15 13 26     1.880    2.831  161.3    6.4   279   11.6 
2025-02-02 00:00 UT   10 14 38.3   +15 19 09     1.876    2.831  162.5    6.0   278   11.6 
2025-02-03 00:00 UT   10 13 47.0   +15 24 54     1.872    2.831  163.7    5.6   277   11.6 
2025-02-04 00:00 UT   10 12 54.7   +15 30 41     1.868    2.832  164.9    5.2   275   11.5 
2025-02-05 00:00 UT   10 12 01.7   +15 36 29     1.865    2.832  166.1    4.8   274   11.5 
2025-02-06 00:00 UT   10 11 07.9   +15 42 17     1.862    2.832  167.3    4.4   272   11.5 
2025-02-07 00:00 UT   10 10 13.4   +15 48 07     1.859    2.832  168.4    4.0   270   11.5 
2025-02-08 00:00 UT   10 09 18.2   +15 53 56     1.857    2.832  169.6    3.6   267   11.4 
2025-02-09 00:00 UT   10 08 22.5   +15 59 44     1.854    2.833  170.7    3.2   264   11.4 
2025-02-10 00:00 UT   10 07 26.2   +16 05 32     1.853    2.833  171.8    2.8   260   11.4 
2025-02-11 00:00 UT   10 06 29.5   +16 11 19     1.851    2.833  172.8    2.5   254   11.4 
2025-02-12 00:00 UT   10 05 32.4   +16 17 04     1.850    2.833  173.8    2.2   247   11.3 
2025-02-13 00:00 UT   10 04 34.9   +16 22 47     1.849    2.833  174.6    1.9   238   11.3 
2025-02-14 00:00 UT   10 03 37.1   +16 28 28     1.848    2.833  175.3    1.6   225   11.3 
2025-02-15 00:00 UT   10 02 39.1   +16 34 07     1.848    2.834  175.6    1.5   210   11.3 
2025-02-16 00:00 UT   10 01 40.9   +16 39 42     1.848    2.834  175.7    1.5   193   11.3 
2025-02-17 00:00 UT   10 00 42.7   +16 45 14     1.848    2.834  175.3    1.6   178   11.3 
2025-02-18 00:00 UT   09 59 44.4   +16 50 42     1.848    2.834  174.7    1.8   165   11.3 
2025-02-19 00:00 UT   09 58 46.1   +16 56 06     1.849    2.834  173.9    2.1   155   11.3 
2025-02-20 00:00 UT   09 57 48.0   +17 01 26     1.850    2.834  173.0    2.5   148   11.4 
2025-02-21 00:00 UT   09 56 49.9   +17 06 41     1.852    2.834  171.9    2.8   142   11.4 

    Terminology:
            
    delta:  distance between minor planet and earth in AU
    radius: distance between minor planet and sun in AU
    magn:   magnitude (brightness) estimate    
    ra:     right ascension in hours (24h = 360deg)
    dec:    declination in degrees
    elong:  elongation in degrees (angle sun-earth-minor planet)    
    phase:  phase angle in degrees (angle sun-minor planet-earth)        
    AU:     Astronomical Unit (mean distance between earth and sun: 149597870.7 km
    

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.