Phocaea

Key Facts

• Categorized as a Main-belt Asteroid
• Comparable in size to the U.S. state of Rhode Island (61.05 km diameter)
• Not a Near Earth Object
• Not a Potentially Hazardous Object
• See orbit simulation

Overview

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 and .

No Close Approaches

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.

Images and Observations

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 3,503 observations used to determine its orbit.

Scientists have been able to determine this object's shape.

View asteroid Phocaea in 3D.

Accessibility and Exploration

This asteroid is not considered a viable target for human exploration by the NHATS study.

Similar Objects

These objects have orbits that share similar characteristics to the orbit of Phocaea:

• 20 Massalia (A852 SA)
• 60 Echo (A860 RB)
• 63 Ausonia (A861 CA)

References

• JPL Small Body Database
• Mission Design
• Sky Finder Chart

Orbit Simulation

Sky Map

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.