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Asteroid

Freia

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76 Freia (A862 UA)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
2.849 AU
True anomaly
346.07°
Distance from Earth
2.576 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 Freia — 2.849 AU from the Sun Freia
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Freia is 2.576 AU from Earth today (21.4 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
06h 56m 18s
Declination
+20° 47′ 26″
Constellation
Gemini
Distance from Earth
2.57 AU
Elongation from the Sun
95.89° — 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
3.408 AU
Eccentricity
0.1677
Inclination
2.12°
Orbital period
6.29 years
Perihelion
2.837 AU
Aphelion
3.98 AU
Longitude of ascending node
204.27°
Argument of periapsis
252.28°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · OMB
Outer main-belt asteroid
Earth MOID · 721.6 LD
1.8541 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.121

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
7,538
Data arc
161.9 years
First observed
6 April 1864
Last observed
13 February 2026
Residual RMS
0.34 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
5 June 2026

Physical properties

Mean radius
73 km
Rotation period
9.97 hours

Visual & observation

Geometric albedo
0.058
Absolute magnitude (H)
8
Colour index (B–V)
0.7
Spectral type (SMASS)
X
Spectral type (Tholen)
P
Colour index (U–B)
0.3

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
d'Arrest, H.
Discovery date
21 October 1862
Discovery site
Copenhagen

Also known as 76 · A862 UA · A911 OB

Main-Belt Asteroid Named

Close approaches 13 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2041-03-10 13:02:00 Juptr 1.9703 AU 766.8 LD 3.1 km/s
2054-08-03 08:16:00 Juptr 1.4858 AU 578.2 LD 1.2 km/s
2067-12-02 17:48:00 Juptr 1.1395 AU 443.5 LD 0.3 km/s
2081-03-24 07:53:00 Juptr 1.2738 AU 495.7 LD 0.8 km/s
2094-09-21 09:32:00 Juptr 1.7522 AU 681.9 LD 3.2 km/s
2160-12-16 03:16:00 Juptr 1.6866 AU 656.4 LD 1.9 km/s
2174-05-18 17:06:00 Juptr 1.2228 AU 475.9 LD 0.5 km/s
2187-08-20 21:24:00 Juptr 1.1432 AU 444.9 LD 0.4 km/s

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

Sources