28978 Ixion
A trans-Neptunian object about 617 km across, 39.3 AU out and 246.8 years to a lap of the Sun.
Where it is right now
28978 Ixion is in Sagittarius, 36.6 AU away, magnitude 19.3.
Computed for 2 August 2026, 17:00 UTC, and recomputed at least hourly. This page is cached, so treat the line above as accurate to the hour rather than to the second. The map shows the live position.
Position from a Kepler propagation of the published elements below, accurate to about an arcminute.
Facts
Every line carries the source it came from.
- Diameter
- 617 kmSource: Published occultation and Herschel/Spitzer radiometry results
- Orbital period
- 246.8 yearsSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
- Distance from the Sun
- 39.346 AU on averageSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
- Orbit shape
- eccentricity 0.244, inclined 19.7 degrees to the eclipticSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
- Class
- Trans-neptunian objectSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
- Discovered
- 2001-May-22 by Buie, M. W.Source: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
Physical size
- Mean radius
- 309 km
- Diameter
- 617 km across
- Absolute magnitude H
- 3.47
Orbit
Elements are heliocentric, referred to the J2000.0 ecliptic.
- Average distance from the Sun
- 39.346 AU (5,886.1 million km)
- Closest and furthest
- 29.763 AU (4,452.5 million km) to 48.930 AU (7,319.8 million km)
- Eccentricity
- 0.2436, noticeably elliptical
- Inclination to the ecliptic
- 19.66 degrees
- Orbital period
- 247 years
- Longitude of ascending node
- 71.08 degrees
- Argument of periapsis
- 300.62 degrees
- Mean anomaly at J2000.0
- 256.41 degrees
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Catalog id ixion. 3,172 objects on the map, of which 171 are hand-authored with sourced facts.