Phocaea is a large asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter in the main portion of the asteroid belt. NASA JPL has not classified Phocaea as potentially hazardous because its orbit does not bring it close to Earth.
Phocaea orbits the sun every 1,360 days (3.72 years), coming as close as 1.79 AU and reaching as far as 3.01 AU from the sun. Phocaea is about 61.1 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the U.S. state of Rhode Island.
The rotation of Phocaea has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 9.93 hours.
Phocaea's spectral type S (Tholen) / S (SMASSII) indicates that it is likely to contain magnesium silicate and iron silicate.
Phocaea's orbit is 0.92 AU from Earth's orbit at its closest point. This means that there is an very wide berth between this asteroid and Earth at all times.
Orbital simulations conducted by NASA JPL's CNEOS do not show any close approaches to Earth.
Phocaea's orbit is determined by observations dating back to March 11, 1860. It was last officially observed on Aug. 24, 2020. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 3,492 observations used to determine its orbit.
The position of Phocaea is indicated by a ◯ pink circle. Note that the object may not be in your current field of view. Use the controls below to adjust position, location, and time.