Asteroids visible this year
Asteroids predicted to reach magnitude 10, the limit of ordinary binoculars, within the next twelve months. Vesta can just reach naked-eye brightness from a dark site at a good opposition.
Nothing matches.
| Object | Brightest | When | Now | Constellation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Vesta | mag 6.4 | Oct 13, 2026 | mag 6.4 | Cetus |
| 1 Ceres | mag 6.8 | Jan 6, 2027 | mag 8.5 | Gemini |
| 2 Pallas | mag 8.3 | Oct 13, 2026 | mag 8.3 | Cetus |
| 192 Nausikaa | mag 8.8 | Oct 13, 2026 | mag 8.8 | Pisces |
| 29 Amphitrite | mag 8.9 | Sep 23, 2027 | mag 11.5 | Ophiuchus |
| 27 Euterpe | mag 8.9 | Feb 10, 2027 | mag 11.2 | Cancer |
| 3 Juno | mag 9.0 | Oct 13, 2027 | mag 9.9 | Sagittarius |
| 6 Hebe | mag 9.1 | Feb 15, 2027 | mag 10.7 | Leo |
| 11 Parthenope | mag 9.2 | Jun 30, 2027 | mag 11.8 | Virgo |
| 40 Harmonia | mag 9.3 | May 16, 2027 | mag 11.5 | Virgo |
| 15 Eunomia | mag 9.5 | Jun 10, 2027 | mag 11.3 | Virgo |
| 7 Iris | mag 9.5 | May 26, 2027 | mag 11.2 | Virgo |
| 10 Hygiea | mag 9.8 | Mar 2, 2027 | mag 11.8 | Leo |
| 216 Kleopatra | mag 9.8 | Oct 13, 2027 | mag 12.4 | Serpens |
Orbital elements and brightness parameters: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database, refreshed daily. Positions are two-body propagation from those elements with Astronomy Engine (accurate for weeks to months around the epoch). Magnitudes use JPL’s standard comet and asteroid formulas. NASA/JPL Small-Body Database Query API (Oct 13, 2026). Calculated with Astronomy Engine, an open-source library verified against the US Naval Observatory and NASA JPL. Data sources
Related guides
- Binoculars for stargazing: what to buy and what to look atA pair of 7x50 or 10x50 binoculars shows the craters of the Moon, the moons of Jupiter, dozens of star clusters and the Andromeda Galaxy, for a fraction of the cost of a telescope.
- Magnitude: how star brightness is measuredLower numbers mean brighter, and five magnitudes are a factor of 100 in brightness.