16 Psyche

Also known as (16) Psyche, Psyche

main-belt asteroid

AI overview

16 Psyche is a large asteroid located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Scientists are interested in studying it because it may be composed largely of iron and nickel, making it potentially different from other asteroids and offering clues about how planets form.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Picture of the Day · NASA

Pathfinder on Mars

2026-07-04

On July 4th, 1997, using its own array of fireworks, a parachute, and a cocoon of airbags, the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft bounced like a giant beach ball at least 15 times before it came to rest on the surface of Mars at 10:07 AM Pacific Daylight Time. After its then novel airbag-assisted landing sequence was completed, Pathfinder transmitted this color mosaic to mission operators on Earth. In the scene from another world, the Mars Sojourner robot rover is visible in the foreground, crouched on top of the unfolded Pathfinder. About the size of a large house cat, the six-wheeled, solar-powered Sojourner became the first successful Martian rover. Surrounding Pathfinder are deflated airbags and the rock-strewn terrain of the Ares Vallis floodplain. In the distance Martian hills appear against a dusty brownish sky. The Pathfinder lander was subsequently renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station.

via NASA APOD

Wikidata facts

Diameter: 222.0
Orbital period: 1825.62570139573
Image: Psyche VLT.png

Show 16 more facts

time of discovery or invention: 1852-03-17
Commons category: 16 Psyche
orbital inclination: 3.097291662719076
density: 4.172
rotation period: 4.196
albedo: 0.1203
provisional designation: A852 FA
absolute magnitude: 6.2
orbital eccentricity: 0.1343462202634327
semi-major axis of an orbit: 2.923314514376521
periapsis: 2.530578258728803
apoapsis: 3.316050770024239
longitude of ascending node: 150.0098773790708
argument of periapsis: 229.7534129677803
mean anomaly: 40.63883784197816
time of periapsis: 2460794.413036558

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Article

16 Psyche (/ˈsaɪkiː/ SY-kee) is a large M-type asteroid, which was discovered by the Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis, on 17 March 1852 and named after the Greek goddess Psyche.

The prefix "16" signifies that it was the sixteenth minor planet in order of discovery. It is the largest and most massive of the M-type asteroids, and one of the dozen most massive asteroids. This body has a mean diameter of approximately 222 kilometers (138 mi) and contains about one percent of the cumulative mass of the whole asteroid belt. It was thought to be the exposed core of a protoplanet, but observations reported in 2020 have cast doubt on that hypothesis.