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Asteroid

Panopaea

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70 Panopaea (A861 JA)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
2.152 AU
True anomaly
341.7°
Distance from Earth
2.58 AU
As of
21 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 — 0.995 AU from the Sun Earth Panopaea — 2.152 AU from the Sun Panopaea
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Panopaea is 2.58 AU from Earth today (21.5 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
17h 22m 58s
Declination
-31° 16′ 42″
Constellation
Scorpius
Distance from Earth
2.58 AU
Elongation from the Sun
54.05° — 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
2.614 AU
Eccentricity
0.1831
Inclination
11.6°
Orbital period
4.23 years
Perihelion
2.135 AU
Aphelion
3.093 AU
Longitude of ascending node
47.64°
Argument of periapsis
255.4°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · MBA
Main-belt asteroid
Earth MOID · 449.4 LD
1.1548 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.356

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
7,968
Data arc
159.5 years
First observed
19 September 1866
Last observed
30 March 2026
Residual RMS
0.27 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
5 June 2026

Physical properties

Mean radius
64 km
Rotation period
15.81 hours

Visual & observation

Geometric albedo
0.038
Absolute magnitude (H)
8.16
Colour index (B–V)
0.74
Spectral type (SMASS)
Ch
Spectral type (Tholen)
C
Colour index (U–B)
0.39

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Goldschmidt, H.
Discovery date
5 May 1861
Discovery site
Paris

Also known as 70 · A861 JA

Main-Belt Asteroid Named

Sources