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Asteroid

Pales

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49 Pales (A857 SB)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
2.434 AU
True anomaly
18.39°
Distance from Earth
1.767 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 Pales — 2.434 AU from the Sun Pales
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Pales is 1.767 AU from Earth today (14.7 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
05h 04m 32s
Declination
+26° 07′ 47″
Constellation
Taurus
Distance from Earth
1.76 AU
Elongation from the Sun
121.39° — well clear of the Sun

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

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
3.097 AU
Eccentricity
0.2213
Inclination
3.2°
Orbital period
5.45 years
Perihelion
2.412 AU
Aphelion
3.783 AU
Longitude of ascending node
284.98°
Argument of periapsis
113.48°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · MBA
Main-belt asteroid
Earth MOID · 552.9 LD
1.4207 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.182

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
9,991
Data arc
162.1 years
First observed
20 November 1863
Last observed
14 December 2025
Residual RMS
0.31 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
5 June 2026

Physical properties

Mean radius
83 km
Rotation period
20.71 hours

Visual & observation

Geometric albedo
0.048
Absolute magnitude (H)
7.99
Colour index (B–V)
0.75
Spectral type (SMASS)
Ch
Spectral type (Tholen)
CG
Colour index (U–B)
0.41

Discovery & classification

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

Also known as 49 · A857 SB · 1947 FG · 1950 XJ · 1954 MF · 1988 VU7 · A908 AF

Main-Belt Asteroid Named

Close approaches 8 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2028-09-28 06:57:00 Juptr 1.8508 AU 720.3 LD 1.6 km/s
2079-02-26 08:16:00 Juptr 1.8337 AU 713.6 LD 2.3 km/s
2088-12-15 23:15:00 Juptr 1.6941 AU 659.3 LD 1.1 km/s
2149-02-27 01:08:00 Juptr 1.6462 AU 640.7 LD 1.3 km/s
2158-12-11 18:15:00 Juptr 1.9565 AU 761.4 LD 2 km/s

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

Sources