(2) Pallas
ephemeris date magn radius delta ra dec elong phase
Today26 Feb 202510.53.366 AU4.036 AU19h57m+05°40'42.0°11.4°
Opposition7 Aug 20259.43.404 AU2.503 AU20h33m+14°41'147.7°9.2°
(2) Pallas - 2025-02-26
astro.vanbuitenen.nl


 
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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 Pallas are:

            e (Eccentricity)                : 0.2305404
            a (Semimajor axis)              : 2.7701937
            i (Inclination)                 : 34.92402
            Ω (Longitude of ascending node) : 172.89530
            ω (Argument of perihelion)      : 310.91037
            M (Mean anomaly)                : 168.79870
            Epoch                           : 2025 May 05

            L (Longitude of perihelion)     : 129.47918
            B (Latitude of perihelion)      : -25.63588
            P (Orbital period in years)     : 4.61            
        

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
2025-02-26 00:00 UT   19 57 41.4   +05 40 19     4.036    3.366   42.0   11.4   290   10.5 
2025-02-26 09:54 UT   19 58 11.2   +05 42 27     4.033    3.367   42.2   11.4   290   10.5 
2025-02-27 00:00 UT   19 58 53.5   +05 45 31     4.030    3.367   42.5   11.5   289   10.5 
2025-02-28 00:00 UT   20 00 05.2   +05 50 46     4.023    3.368   43.1   11.6   288   10.5 
2025-03-01 00:00 UT   20 01 16.5   +05 56 05     4.016    3.368   43.6   11.7   288   10.5 
2025-03-02 00:00 UT   20 02 27.4   +06 01 28     4.009    3.369   44.1   11.8   287   10.5 
2025-03-03 00:00 UT   20 03 37.9   +06 06 55     4.002    3.370   44.6   11.9   286   10.5 
2025-03-04 00:00 UT   20 04 48.0   +06 12 25     3.995    3.371   45.2   12.0   286   10.5 
2025-03-05 00:00 UT   20 05 57.6   +06 17 58     3.988    3.371   45.7   12.2   285   10.5 
2025-03-06 00:00 UT   20 07 06.8   +06 23 35     3.981    3.372   46.2   12.3   284   10.5 
2025-03-07 00:00 UT   20 08 15.6   +06 29 15     3.973    3.372   46.8   12.4   284   10.5 
2025-03-08 00:00 UT   20 09 24.0   +06 34 59     3.966    3.373   47.3   12.5   283   10.5 
2025-03-09 00:00 UT   20 10 31.9   +06 40 46     3.958    3.374   47.9   12.6   282   10.5 
2025-03-10 00:00 UT   20 11 39.3   +06 46 36     3.950    3.374   48.4   12.7   282   10.5 
2025-03-11 00:00 UT   20 12 46.3   +06 52 29     3.942    3.375   49.0   12.8   281   10.5 
2025-03-12 00:00 UT   20 13 52.8   +06 58 25     3.934    3.376   49.6   12.9   281   10.5 
2025-03-13 00:00 UT   20 14 58.9   +07 04 24     3.926    3.376   50.1   13.1   280   10.5 
2025-03-14 00:00 UT   20 16 04.5   +07 10 26     3.918    3.377   50.7   13.2   279   10.5 
2025-03-15 00:00 UT   20 17 09.6   +07 16 31     3.909    3.378   51.3   13.3   279   10.5 
2025-03-16 00:00 UT   20 18 14.3   +07 22 39     3.901    3.378   51.8   13.4   278   10.5 
2025-03-17 00:00 UT   20 19 18.4   +07 28 50     3.892    3.379   52.4   13.5   278   10.5 
2025-03-18 00:00 UT   20 20 22.1   +07 35 03     3.884    3.379   53.0   13.6   277   10.5 
2025-03-19 00:00 UT   20 21 25.2   +07 41 20     3.875    3.380   53.6   13.7   277   10.5 
2025-03-20 00:00 UT   20 22 27.8   +07 47 38     3.866    3.380   54.2   13.8   276   10.5 
2025-03-21 00:00 UT   20 23 30.0   +07 53 60     3.857    3.381   54.7   13.9   275   10.5 
2025-03-22 00:00 UT   20 24 31.6   +08 00 23     3.847    3.382   55.3   14.0   275   10.5 
2025-03-23 00:00 UT   20 25 32.7   +08 06 50     3.838    3.382   55.9   14.1   274   10.5 
2025-03-24 00:00 UT   20 26 33.2   +08 13 18     3.829    3.383   56.5   14.2   274   10.5 
2025-03-25 00:00 UT   20 27 33.2   +08 19 49     3.819    3.383   57.1   14.3   273   10.5 
2025-03-26 00:00 UT   20 28 32.6   +08 26 22     3.810    3.384   57.7   14.4   273   10.5 
2025-03-27 00:00 UT   20 29 31.5   +08 32 57     3.800    3.384   58.3   14.5   272   10.5 


    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.