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Asteroid Near-Earth

Tara

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5863 Tara (1983 RB)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.381 AU
True anomaly
67.56°
Distance from Earth
0.663 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 Tara — 1.381 AU from the Sun Tara
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Tara is 0.663 AU from Earth today (5.5 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
20h 52m 07s
Declination
-20° 15′ 23″
Constellation
Capricornus
Distance from Earth
0.67 AU
Elongation from the Sun
110.75° — 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.

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
2.221 AU
Eccentricity
0.5074
Inclination
19.51°
Orbital period
3.31 years
Perihelion
1.094 AU
Aphelion
3.347 AU
Longitude of ascending node
168.68°
Argument of periapsis
115.73°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · AMO
Amor
Earth MOID · 89.9 LD
0.2309 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.404

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
3,395
Data arc
43.16 years
First observed
12 August 1983
Last observed
8 October 2026
Residual RMS
0.41 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
10 October 2026

Physical properties

Mean radius
0.67 km
Rotation period
5.87 hours

Visual & observation

Geometric albedo
0.488
Absolute magnitude (H)
15.81

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Shoemaker, C. S., Shoemaker, E. M.
Discovery date
7 September 1983
Discovery site
Palomar

Also known as 5863 · 1983 RB

Amor Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 2 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2182-05-31 00:38:00 Mars 0.0266 AU 10.4 LD 14.4 km/s

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

Sources