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Asteroid

Erato

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62 Erato (A860 RD)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
2.607 AU
True anomaly
7.08°
Distance from Earth
1.722 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 Erato — 2.607 AU from the Sun Erato
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Erato is 1.722 AU from Earth today (14.3 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
04h 03m 39s
Declination
+17° 24′ 44″
Constellation
Taurus
Distance from Earth
1.72 AU
Elongation from the Sun
146.06° — 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
3.129 AU
Eccentricity
0.1678
Inclination
2.24°
Orbital period
5.53 years
Perihelion
2.604 AU
Aphelion
3.654 AU
Longitude of ascending node
125.1°
Argument of periapsis
277.8°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · MBA
Main-belt asteroid
Earth MOID · 627.6 LD
1.6126 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.191

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
11,182
Data arc
119.9 years
First observed
24 January 1906
Last observed
14 December 2025
Residual RMS
0.29 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
11 March 2026

Physical properties

Mean radius
53 km
Rotation period
9.22 hours

Visual & observation

Geometric albedo
0.048
Absolute magnitude (H)
8.89
Colour index (B–V)
0.71
Spectral type (SMASS)
Ch
Spectral type (Tholen)
BU
Colour index (U–B)
0.38

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Lesser, O., Forster, W.
Discovery date
14 September 1860
Discovery site
Berlin

Also known as 62 · A860 RD · 1935 FW · 1953 OS · 2002 JN104 · A906 BE · A907 GE · A910 VA

Main-Belt Asteroid Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2028-12-13 11:23:00 Juptr 1.8934 AU 736.9 LD 2.1 km/s
2091-01-09 18:20:00 Juptr 1.8201 AU 708.3 LD 2.2 km/s
2101-03-22 19:01:00 Juptr 1.7621 AU 685.8 LD 1.7 km/s
2163-04-23 10:22:00 Juptr 1.9873 AU 773.4 LD 3.4 km/s
2173-07-03 10:01:00 Juptr 1.7525 AU 682.0 LD 1.8 km/s
2183-09-15 01:44:00 Juptr 1.8381 AU 715.4 LD 1.9 km/s

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

Sources