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Asteroid Near-Earth Potentially hazardous

Hathor

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2340 Hathor (1976 UA)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.025 AU
True anomaly
220.25°
Distance from Earth
1.369 AU
As of
19 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.

Sun Earth — 0.996 AU from the Sun Earth Hathor — 1.025 AU from the Sun Hathor
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Hathor is 1.369 AU from Earth today (11.4 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
10h 34m 53s
Declination
+04° 16′ 56″
Constellation
Sextans
Distance from Earth
1.37 AU
Elongation from the Sun
48.23° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

Visible from both hemispheres.

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
0.844 AU
Eccentricity
0.45
Inclination
5.86°
Orbital period
283.1 days
Perihelion
0.464 AU
Aphelion
1.223 AU
Longitude of ascending node
211.21°
Argument of periapsis
40.2°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 2.5 LD
0.0064 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.882

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
572
Data arc
45.11 years
First observed
25 October 1976
Last observed
5 December 2021
Residual RMS
0.37 ″
Solution · Giorgini
20 December 2022

Physical properties

Mean radius
0.15 km
Rotation period
3.35 hours

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
20.41
Colour index (B–V)
0.77
Spectral type (SMASS)
Sq
Spectral type (Tholen)
CSU
Colour index (U–B)
0.5

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Kowal, C. T.
Discovery date
22 October 1976
Discovery site
Palomar

Like the other objects of Aten type, (2340) is named for an Egyptian deity. Known as a sky-goddess and the daughter of Ra, Hathor was also identified with Aphrodite. Name proposed by E. Helin, who made an independent discovery of the object and who also made crucial recovery observations in 1981.

Also known as 2340 · 1976 UA

Aten Near-Earth Object Named Potentially Hazardous Asteroid

Close approaches 272 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of Hathor at 2028-11-18 13:44 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2028-11-18 13:44 UTC close approach of Hathor. Catalogue miss distance 89.0 LD · 3.42 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2028-11-15 to 2028-11-21, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. At closest approach the object is south of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. Sun 89.0 LD · 3.42 × 10⁷ km 2028-11-18 13:44 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2028-11-18 13:44 UTC close approach of Hathor. Catalogue miss distance 89.0 LD · 3.42 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2028-11-15 to 2028-11-21, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. At closest approach the object is south of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate.

JPL Horizons

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2028-11-18 13:44:00 Earth 0.2287 AU 89.0 LD 10.3 km/s
2029-04-11 10:51:00 Earth 0.4757 AU 185.1 LD 17.2 km/s
2030-02-04 15:55:00 Merc 0.0448 AU 17.4 LD 16.5 km/s
2030-02-04 15:55:00 Mercury 0.0448 AU 17.4 LD 16.5 km/s
2031-10-28 08:08:00 Earth 0.2582 AU 100.5 LD 21.4 km/s
2033-01-13 13:47:00 Earth 0.1997 AU 77.7 LD 18.5 km/s
2035-08-09 02:31:00 Earth 0.4523 AU 176.0 LD 13.6 km/s
2035-12-06 10:41:00 Earth 0.249 AU 96.9 LD 10.4 km/s
2036-03-24 07:58:00 Earth 0.4225 AU 164.4 LD 13 km/s
2037-01-23 08:01:00 Mercury 0.0421 AU 16.4 LD 21 km/s

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

Sources