Skip to content
Public Universe
Asteroid

Leukothea

Add to an observing list or journal →

35 Leukothea (A855 HA)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
2.37 AU
True anomaly
16.4°
Distance from Earth
3.291 AU
As of
11 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 — 0.998 AU from the Sun Earth Leukothea — 2.37 AU from the Sun Leukothea
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Leukothea is 3.291 AU from Earth today (27.4 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
14h 13m 13s
Declination
-18° 07′ 06″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
3.29 AU
Elongation from the Sun
18.66° — 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
3.004 AU
Eccentricity
0.217
Inclination
7.87°
Orbital period
5.21 years
Perihelion
2.352 AU
Aphelion
3.656 AU
Longitude of ascending node
352.9°
Argument of periapsis
215.53°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · MBA
Main-belt asteroid
Earth MOID · 526.9 LD
1.3539 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.201

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
7,743
Data arc
166.1 years
First observed
11 March 1860
Last observed
13 April 2026
Residual RMS
0.35 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
5 June 2026

Physical properties

Mean radius
52 km
Rotation period
31.9 hours

Visual & observation

Geometric albedo
0.066
Absolute magnitude (H)
8.68
Colour index (B–V)
0.7
Spectral type (SMASS)
C
Spectral type (Tholen)
C
Colour index (U–B)
0.34

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Luther, R.
Discovery date
19 April 1855
Discovery site
Dusseldorf

Also known as 35 · A855 HA · 1948 DC · 1950 RS1 · 1976 WH

Main-Belt Asteroid Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2033-04-15 14:36:00 Juptr 1.9825 AU 771.5 LD 3.2 km/s
2070-06-07 13:11:00 Juptr 1.3545 AU 527.1 LD 1.8 km/s
2107-07-14 13:05:00 Juptr 1.6541 AU 643.7 LD 0.7 km/s
2153-05-14 14:41:00 Juptr 1.3949 AU 542.9 LD 1.9 km/s
2190-06-07 08:20:00 Juptr 1.5788 AU 614.4 LD 0.6 km/s

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

Sources