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Asteroid

Doris

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48 Doris (A857 SA)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.308 AU
True anomaly
198.2°
Distance from Earth
3.769 AU
As of
16 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 — 0.997 AU from the Sun Earth Doris — 3.308 AU from the Sun Doris
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Doris is 3.769 AU from Earth today (31.3 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
17h 12m 41s
Declination
-17° 13′ 26″
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Distance from Earth
3.77 AU
Elongation from the Sun
55.43° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

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
3.114 AU
Eccentricity
0.0661
Inclination
6.56°
Orbital period
5.49 years
Perihelion
2.908 AU
Aphelion
3.319 AU
Longitude of ascending node
183.42°
Argument of periapsis
251.45°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · MBA
Main-belt asteroid
Earth MOID · 751.2 LD
1.9304 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.205

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
5,531
Data arc
166.1 years
First observed
27 February 1860
Last observed
14 April 2026
Residual RMS
0.43 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
5 June 2026

Physical properties

Mean radius
108 km
Rotation period
11.89 hours

Visual & observation

Geometric albedo
0.065
Absolute magnitude (H)
7.1
Colour index (B–V)
0.72
Spectral type (SMASS)
Ch
Spectral type (Tholen)
CG
Colour index (U–B)
0.44

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Goldschmidt, H.
Discovery date
19 September 1857
Discovery site
Paris

Also known as 48 · A857 SA · 1948 FE

Main-Belt Asteroid Named

Close approaches 8 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2032-10-31 20:24:00 Juptr 1.9128 AU 744.4 LD 3 km/s
2094-04-22 05:16:00 Juptr 1.9551 AU 760.9 LD 4.2 km/s
2104-06-19 08:23:00 Juptr 1.8911 AU 736.0 LD 3.2 km/s
2176-02-04 05:23:00 Juptr 1.8744 AU 729.5 LD 3.4 km/s
2186-03-16 06:47:00 Juptr 1.9825 AU 771.5 LD 2.9 km/s

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

Sources