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Asteroid

Felicitas

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109 Felicitas (A869 TA)

Felicitas is an asteroid in the Main-belt asteroid orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 1.88 AU to 3.5 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 4.42 years; it is about 83 km across. Discovered 9 October 1869 by Peters, C. H. F.. Orbit from the JPL solution of 5 June 2026.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.396 AU
True anomaly
158.12°
Distance from Earth
4.383 AU
As of
24 October 2026

Two-body Kepler propagation — accurate to ~0.1% for major planets over decades, less so for highly-perturbed bodies. Use JPL Horizons for high precision.

Orbit of Mercury Orbit of Venus Orbit of Mars Sun Earth — 0.994 AU from the Sun Earth Felicitas — 3.396 AU from the Sun Felicitas
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Felicitas is 4.383 AU from Earth today (36.5 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
14h 13m 00s
Declination
-17° 07′ 51″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
4.38 AU
Elongation from the Sun
6° — too close to the Sun to observe

Favours the southern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far north.

From your location

See how high it is right now, whether it is up after civil twilight, and when it rises and sets where you are.

How do I find my coordinates?

Google Maps on a computer

  1. Right-click the spot where you'll be observing.
  2. The first line of the menu is the coordinates, e.g. 51.50722, -0.12758 — click it and they're copied.
  3. Paste them above.

Google Maps on a phone

  1. Press and hold the spot to drop a pin.
  2. The coordinates appear in the search bar (or on the pin's card) — tap to copy, then paste above.

A full Google Maps link works too, but the short maps.app.goo.gl share links don't carry coordinates — copy the numbers instead. We round to about a kilometre; that's all the sky calculation needs.

Know your what3words address? Paste it, e.g. ///filled.count.soap. This is optional — the three words are sent to what3words to convert them, and we don't store the address or the result.

Your location stays in your browser and is sent only for this calculation. Using a what3words address is optional; if you do, the three words go to what3words to be converted and we don't record them. Set a location first, then you can save an email alert for this object. See our privacy policy.

Two-body approximation, good to about a degree for the planets — enough to find the constellation and know whether it is up.

Orbital elements

Semi-major axis
2.693 AU
Eccentricity
0.3004
Inclination
7.85°
Orbital period
4.42 years
Perihelion
1.884 AU
Aphelion
3.502 AU
Longitude of ascending node
2.72°
Argument of periapsis
57.56°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · MBA
Main-belt asteroid
Earth MOID · 353.5 LD
0.9082 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.292

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
4,887
Data arc
29.88 years
First observed
28 May 1996
Last observed
13 April 2026
Residual RMS
0.3 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
5 June 2026

Physical properties

Mean radius
41 km
Rotation period
13.19 hours

Visual & observation

Geometric albedo
0.036
Absolute magnitude (H)
8.98
Colour index (B–V)
0.7
Spectral type (SMASS)
Ch
Spectral type (Tholen)
GC
Colour index (U–B)
0.41

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Peters, C. H. F.
Discovery date
9 October 1869
Discovery site
Clinton

Also known as 109 · A869 TA · A911 HA

Main-Belt Asteroid Named

Close approaches 4 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2173-10-12 13:35:00 Juptr 1.9659 AU 765.1 LD 0.9 km/s

Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.

Sources