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Asteroid Near-Earth Potentially hazardous

Mithra

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4486 Mithra (1987 SB)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.026 AU
True anomaly
71.15°
Distance from Earth
0.949 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 Mithra — 1.026 AU from the Sun Mithra
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Mithra is 0.949 AU from Earth today (7.9 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
17h 28m 42s
Declination
-26° 07′ 41″
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Distance from Earth
0.95 AU
Elongation from the Sun
63.92° — 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
2.205 AU
Eccentricity
0.6598
Inclination
3.03°
Orbital period
3.27 years
Perihelion
0.75 AU
Aphelion
3.66 AU
Longitude of ascending node
82.16°
Argument of periapsis
169.3°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · APO
Apollo
Earth MOID · 17.8 LD
0.0458 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.337

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
2,081
Data arc
39.68 years
First observed
29 January 1987
Last observed
5 October 2026
Residual RMS
0.35 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
6 October 2026

Physical properties

Mean radius
0.92 km
Rotation period
2.81 days
Shape · km
2.35 x 1.65 x 1.44

Visual & observation

Geometric albedo
0.297
Absolute magnitude (H)
15.62

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Elst, E. W., Shkodrov, V. G.
Discovery date
22 September 1987
Discovery site
Smolyan

Named for the Indo-Iranian god of the heavenly light that led to Mithraism, one of the last oriental mystery cults to reach the west, where it became the chief rival to and opponent of Christianity. In Babylonia, Chaldaean astrology was incorporated, while Greek art, religion and philosophy provided the models for Mithraic iconography and the Mithraic mysteries. The two religions have much in common: a divine lord by whom man was assured of elevation, a sacramental meal and a ritual of baptism. Many ruins of Mithraic sanctuaries are still to be found in Europe, near Frankfurt and Heidelberg, for example. This minor planet is of Apollo type, and in Asia Minor around 330 B.C. the god Mithra was identified with the god Apollo. Citation prepared by E. W. Elst.

Also known as 4486 · 1987 SB · 1974 DN1

Apollo Near-Earth Object Named Potentially Hazardous Asteroid

Close approaches 34 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of Mithra at 2036-07-26 06:19 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2036-07-26 06:19 UTC close approach of Mithra. Catalogue miss distance 60.6 LD · 2.33 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2036-07-23 to 2036-07-29, 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. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. Sun 60.6 LD · 2.33 × 10⁷ km 2036-07-26 06:19 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2036-07-26 06:19 UTC close approach of Mithra. Catalogue miss distance 60.6 LD · 2.33 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2036-07-23 to 2036-07-29, 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. 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
2036-07-26 06:19:00 Earth 0.1558 AU 60.6 LD 13.4 km/s
2048-01-06 01:27:00 Juptr 1.9498 AU 758.8 LD 6.6 km/s
2056-02-04 01:59:00 Venus 0.0166 AU 6.5 LD 9.9 km/s
2059-01-20 19:27:00 Mars 0.0963 AU 37.5 LD 15.8 km/s
2059-04-01 18:18:00 Earth 0.1031 AU 40.1 LD 14.8 km/s
2083-11-15 04:17:00 Juptr 1.4859 AU 578.3 LD 4.8 km/s
2085-08-24 09:34:00 Earth 0.1343 AU 52.2 LD 21.1 km/s
2098-08-09 18:58:00 Venus 0.0924 AU 36.0 LD 13.7 km/s
2108-05-08 08:26:00 Venus 0.0664 AU 25.8 LD 12.7 km/s
2119-09-26 18:51:00 Juptr 1.4082 AU 548.0 LD 4.4 km/s

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

Sources