Psyche is a very large asteroid circling the sun between Mars and Jupiter, inside the main asteroid belt. NASA JPL does not treat Psyche as potentially hazardous, because its orbit never carries it near Earth.
One lap around the sun takes Psyche 1,830 days (5.01 years). Over that circuit it swings between 2.53 AU and 3.32 AU from the sun, travelling at an average of 17.38 km/s. At 226.0 kilometers across, Psyche is bigger than 99% of known asteroids — roughly the size of the U.S. state of Maryland.
Psyche has been watched long enough to time its spin: one full turn on its axis takes 4.2 hours.
Its spectral type — M on the Tholen scale, X on SMASSII — suggests Psyche holds iron, nickel, and cobalt.
At their nearest, the orbits of Psyche and Earth stay 1.53 AU apart. That is a comfortable margin, and it holds at every point in the orbit.
Orbital simulations run by NASA JPL's CNEOS turn up no close approaches to Earth.
The orbit of Psyche is pinned down by sightings going back to June 22, 1984, the most recent officially logged on Dec. 9, 2021. The IAU Minor Planet Center holds 2,693 observations behind that solution.
A ◯ pink circle marks where Psyche sits. It may fall outside your current field of view — use the controls below to change the position, location and time.