# 16 Psyche

*In the Solar System*

One of the largest asteroids, here for its size, and the most peculiar of them: radar and density say it is largely metal rather than rock, which one reading makes the exposed core of a body whose outer layers were stripped off in a collision. NASA's Psyche spacecraft is on its way and arrives in 2029, so this is one of the few entries here that will be rewritten by something other than a telescope.

| | |
| --- | --- |
| Radius | 111 km |
| Around the equator | 697 km |
| From the Sun | 452,747,590 km (+190,244 km/d) |
| From the Earth | 587,365,019 km (-673,272 km/d) |
| A signal takes | 33 min |

Distances and speed are computed from JPL Horizons trajectories and are true of 2026-09-05, changing at the rate given beside each. The interpolation itself is good to a few kilometres; what ages these figures is the date, not the arithmetic.

## Elsewhere

- On the live map: https://www.orbitalmap.space/?world=solar-system&focus=psyche-16
- This object as a page: https://www.orbitalmap.space/o/psyche-16/
- Every object: https://www.orbitalmap.space/o/
- What this site is and what it reads: https://www.orbitalmap.space/llms.txt