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Score breakdown
· 6 badges
44 pts · Rare
Rare50 pts → Epic
Metal-rich asteroid+14
Large body (100-500 km)+12
Notably bright (low H)+8
Has a proper name+8
Asteroid+1
Main-belt asteroid+1
Total score44
6 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
🪨Asteroid· +1
🗿Large body (100-500 km)· +12
💡Notably bright (low H)· +8
🏷️Has a proper name· +8
🥌Main-belt asteroid· +1
⚙️Metal-rich asteroid· +14
✨ Trivia
What it actually is
🛸Its orbit family. A main-belt asteroid, one of millions circling between Mars and Jupiter. Despite the films, the belt is so empty that every spacecraft sent through it has crossed without aiming for anything.
🌞Closest approach. At its nearest it comes within 2.53 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Jupiter.
🔁One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 5 years.
🥏How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 2.53 and 3.32 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
🧱Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is about 10.3× the length of Manhattan island.
🚶Walk around it. Walking its equator at a steady pace, eight hours a day, would take about 17.4 days.
Standing on it
🥶Sunlight there. Even at its closest the sunlight is only about 16% as strong as Earth's.
By the numbers
📐Size. Roughly 222 km across.
Properties
albedo
0.1203
aphelion au
3.32
designation
16
diameter km
222
eccentricity
0.1349
full name
16 Psyche (A852 FA)
h mag
6.2
inclination
3.1
mean motion deg day
0.1969
moid au
1.53
name
Psyche
named
yes
orbit class
MBA
perihelion au
2.531
rotation period h
4.196
semi major au
2.926
spec taxonomy
X
spect
X
About Psyche
Psyche is a rare asteroid. It has spectral type X and swings within 2.531 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
A main-belt asteroid, one of millions circling between Mars and Jupiter. Despite the films, the belt is so empty that every spacecraft sent through it has crossed without aiming for anything.
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, Psyche is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. Because it moves against the background stars, the live position panel on this page tracks where it is right now. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.
Why Psyche is a rare asteroid
Psyche scores 44 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 6 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 6 science badges — Asteroid, Large body (100-500 km), Notably bright (low H), Has a proper name, Main-belt asteroid and Metal-rich asteroid — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.
📷 Real photo