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Asteroid

Hecuba

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108 Hecuba (A869 GB)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.173 AU
True anomaly
76.6°
Distance from Earth
3.616 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 Hecuba — 3.173 AU from the Sun Hecuba
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Hecuba is 3.616 AU from Earth today (30.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
17h 36m 37s
Declination
-26° 47′ 42″
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Distance from Earth
3.62 AU
Elongation from the Sun
55.84° — 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
3.233 AU
Eccentricity
0.0635
Inclination
4.21°
Orbital period
5.81 years
Perihelion
3.028 AU
Aphelion
3.438 AU
Longitude of ascending node
349.72°
Argument of periapsis
213.35°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · OMB
Outer main-belt asteroid
Earth MOID · 788.4 LD
2.0259 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.178

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
6,424
Data arc
146.2 years
First observed
26 January 1880
Last observed
10 April 2026
Residual RMS
0.35 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
5 June 2026

Physical properties

Mean radius
38 km
Rotation period
14.26 hours

Visual & observation

Geometric albedo
0.148
Absolute magnitude (H)
7.97
Colour index (B–V)
0.86
Spectral type (SMASS)
Sl
Spectral type (Tholen)
S
Colour index (U–B)
0.5

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Luther, R.
Discovery date
2 April 1869
Discovery site
Dusseldorf

Also known as 108 · A869 GB

Main-Belt Asteroid Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2033-05-30 03:51:00 Juptr 1.7174 AU 668.3 LD 2.8 km/s
2044-09-13 14:35:00 Juptr 1.8811 AU 732.1 LD 3.3 km/s
2179-07-19 17:31:00 Juptr 1.9269 AU 749.9 LD 3.3 km/s
2190-10-27 19:54:00 Juptr 1.7766 AU 691.4 LD 2.7 km/s

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

Sources