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Asteroid

Danae

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61 Danae (A860 RC)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
2.913 AU
True anomaly
91.06°
Distance from Earth
2.587 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 Danae — 2.913 AU from the Sun Danae
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Danae is 2.587 AU from Earth today (21.5 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
06h 46m 48s
Declination
+43° 06′ 13″
Constellation
Auriga
Distance from Earth
2.58 AU
Elongation from the Sun
99.52° — 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
2.984 AU
Eccentricity
0.1636
Inclination
18.21°
Orbital period
5.16 years
Perihelion
2.496 AU
Aphelion
3.473 AU
Longitude of ascending node
333.54°
Argument of periapsis
12.88°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · MBA
Main-belt asteroid
Earth MOID · 579.7 LD
1.4896 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.163

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
9,184
Data arc
160.5 years
First observed
27 August 1865
Last observed
10 February 2026
Residual RMS
0.28 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
5 June 2026

Physical properties

Mean radius
43 km
Rotation period
11.45 hours

Visual & observation

Geometric albedo
0.203
Absolute magnitude (H)
7.73
Colour index (B–V)
0.85
Spectral type (SMASS)
S
Spectral type (Tholen)
S
Colour index (U–B)
0.4

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Goldschmidt, H.
Discovery date
9 September 1860
Discovery site
Paris

Also known as 61 · A860 RC · 1953 RL1 · A917 SM

Main-Belt Asteroid Named

Close approaches 2 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2110-07-31 06:43:00 Juptr 1.9303 AU 751.2 LD 5 km/s

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

Sources