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Asteroid Near-Earth

Morpheus

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4197 Morpheus (1982 TA)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.026 AU
True anomaly
184.53°
Distance from Earth
3.7 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 Morpheus — 4.026 AU from the Sun Morpheus
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Morpheus is 3.7 AU from Earth today (30.8 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
20h 21m 44s
Declination
-30° 38′ 17″
Constellation
Sagittarius
Distance from Earth
3.71 AU
Elongation from the Sun
101.28° — well clear of the Sun

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.

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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
2.296 AU
Eccentricity
0.7725
Inclination
12.61°
Orbital period
3.48 years
Perihelion
0.522 AU
Aphelion
4.069 AU
Longitude of ascending node
6.96°
Argument of periapsis
122.61°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · APO
Apollo
Earth MOID · 38.4 LD
0.0986 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.09

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
1,226
Data arc
72.03 years
First observed
3 September 1954
Last observed
14 September 2026
Residual RMS
0.47 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 September 2026

Physical properties

Mean radius
0.90 km
Rotation period
3.54 hours

Visual & observation

Geometric albedo
0.37
Absolute magnitude (H)
14.97
Spectral type (SMASS)
Sq

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Helin, E. F., Shoemaker, E. M.
Discovery date
11 October 1982
Discovery site
Palomar

Morpheus is a god of dreams who appears in Ovid's <i>Metamorphoses</i>. He has the ability to mimic any human form and appear in dreams. Morpheus is also the name of one of the main characters (played by actor Laurence Fishburne) in the Matrix movie trilogy.

Also known as 4197 · 1982 TA

Apollo Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 22 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of Morpheus at 2049-05-10 13:21 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2049-05-10 13:21 UTC close approach of Morpheus. Catalogue miss distance 75.7 LD · 2.91 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2049-05-07 to 2049-05-13, 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 75.7 LD · 2.91 × 10⁷ km 2049-05-10 13:21 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2049-05-10 13:21 UTC close approach of Morpheus. Catalogue miss distance 75.7 LD · 2.91 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2049-05-07 to 2049-05-13, 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
2033-03-14 22:04:00 Juptr 1.7335 AU 674.6 LD 8.8 km/s
2049-05-10 13:21:00 Earth 0.1945 AU 75.7 LD 27.8 km/s
2056-04-27 10:51:00 Earth 0.1544 AU 60.1 LD 22.1 km/s
2068-09-07 02:03:00 Juptr 1.2795 AU 498.0 LD 6.8 km/s
2092-07-07 14:38:00 Juptr 1.6404 AU 638.4 LD 8.3 km/s
2118-10-28 15:50:00 Earth 0.1349 AU 52.5 LD 24.1 km/s
2125-10-23 12:02:00 Earth 0.1771 AU 68.9 LD 27.1 km/s
2127-12-31 08:38:00 Juptr 1.3072 AU 508.7 LD 7.1 km/s
2151-11-02 06:28:00 Juptr 1.5441 AU 600.9 LD 7.8 km/s
2171-05-07 06:29:00 Earth 0.191 AU 74.3 LD 25.7 km/s

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

Sources