Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.118 AU
- True anomaly
- 75.51°
- Distance from Earth
- 2.086 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.
In the sky
- Right ascension
- 13h 34m 59s
- Declination
- -15° 45′ 15″
- Constellation
- Virgo
- Distance from Earth
- 2.09 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 10.23° — too close to the Sun to observe
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.
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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
- 2.265 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.6525
- Inclination
- 11.2°
- Orbital period
- 3.41 years
- Perihelion
- 0.787 AU
- Aphelion
- 3.743 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 280.59°
- Argument of periapsis
- 218.45°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 25.2 LD
- 0.0649 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 3.278
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).
- Observations used
- 1,607
- Data arc
- 37.11 years
- First observed
- 13 September 1988
- Last observed
- 23 October 2025
- Residual RMS
- 0.48 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 4 August 2026
Physical properties
- Mean radius
- 2.62 km
Visual & observation
- Geometric albedo
- 0.031
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 15.47
Discovery & classification
- Discovered by
- Shoemaker, C. S., Shoemaker, E. M.
- Discovery date
- 4 November 1988
- Discovery site
- Palomar
Also known as 5731 · 1988 VP4
Close approaches 18 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2029-12-08 14:39 UTC close approach of Zeus. Catalogue miss distance 38.5 LD · 1.48 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2029-12-05 to 2029-12-11, 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 north of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate.
| When (UTC) | Body | Distance | Lunar distances | Relative speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2029-12-08 14:39:00 | Earth | 0.0988 AU | 38.5 LD | 18.2 km/s |
| 2036-10-25 18:30:00 | Venus | 0.1499 AU | 58.3 LD | 11.1 km/s |
| 2045-04-10 08:15:00 | Juptr | 1.5474 AU | 602.2 LD | 5.6 km/s |
| 2047-01-14 11:13:00 | Earth | 0.1703 AU | 66.3 LD | 13.5 km/s |
| 2064-04-13 21:44:00 | Earth | 0.1887 AU | 73.4 LD | 15.9 km/s |
| 2069-02-21 03:52:00 | Juptr | 1.7696 AU | 688.7 LD | 6.6 km/s |
| 2151-07-30 03:04:00 | Juptr | 1.7165 AU | 668.0 LD | 5.2 km/s |
| 2159-12-12 18:12:00 | Earth | 0.0643 AU | 25.0 LD | 17.4 km/s |
| 2175-06-07 14:44:00 | Juptr | 1.5528 AU | 604.3 LD | 4.8 km/s |
| 2177-01-28 12:31:00 | Venus | 0.1304 AU | 50.7 LD | 11.2 km/s |
Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.
Sources
- visual properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- physical properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- visual properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- orbital elements: JPL SBDB