(8) Flora
ephemeris date magn radius delta ra dec elong phase
Today19 Mar 202411.01.871 AU2.548 AU02h22m+10°24'38.3°19.3°
Opposition12 Mar 20259.72.420 AU1.433 AU11h45m+11°04'171.2°3.6°
(8) Flora - 2024-03-19
astro.vanbuitenen.nl


 
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The interactive orbit chart above shows the body's path through the solar system and its position at the given date. Green and blue lines are shown perpendicular to the ecliptic plane: Green if the path is above the ecliptic plane, blue if it is below. (Left-click and drag to rotate the view; Right-click and drag to move the view; Use scroll wheel to zoom in our out.)

The orbital elements of Flora are:

            e (Eccentricity)                : 0.1566916
            a (Semimajor axis)              : 2.2017044
            i (Inclination)                 : 5.88936
            Ω (Longitude of ascending node) : 110.84972
            ω (Argument of perihelion)      : 285.53743
            M (Mean anomaly)                : 17.69819
            Epoch                           : 2024 Mar 31

            L (Longitude of perihelion)     : 36.46558
            B (Latitude of perihelion)      : -5.67342
            P (Orbital period in years)     : 3.27            
        

The light curve chart below shows the estimated development of the minor planet's magnitude.


The all-sky chart below shows the path of the minor planet over the same period as the light curve. The current position is marked yellow.





The following chart shows the path of the minor planet in the next few days. The field of view is optimized for (~10x50) binoculars and finderscopes. A more printer-friendly version of the same chart can be found below.




Ephemerides:
Date       Time       RA (2000)    DEC (2000)    delta   radius  elong  phase   PA    magn
2024-03-19 00:00 UT   02 22 13.6   +10 24 31     2.548    1.871   38.3   19.3    76   11.0 
2024-03-19 03:17 UT   02 22 32.0   +10 26 18     2.549    1.871   38.2   19.2    76   11.0 
2024-03-20 00:00 UT   02 24 28.4   +10 37 30     2.555    1.872   37.9   19.1    76   11.0 
2024-03-21 00:00 UT   02 26 43.4   +10 50 24     2.562    1.872   37.5   18.9    76   11.0 
2024-03-22 00:00 UT   02 28 58.6   +11 03 13     2.569    1.873   37.1   18.7    76   11.0 
2024-03-23 00:00 UT   02 31 14.2   +11 15 58     2.576    1.874   36.7   18.5    76   11.0 
2024-03-24 00:00 UT   02 33 30.0   +11 28 37     2.582    1.874   36.3   18.4    76   11.0 
2024-03-25 00:00 UT   02 35 46.1   +11 41 11     2.589    1.875   35.9   18.2    77   11.0 
2024-03-26 00:00 UT   02 38 02.5   +11 53 40     2.596    1.876   35.5   18.0    77   11.0 
2024-03-27 00:00 UT   02 40 19.1   +12 06 03     2.603    1.876   35.1   17.8    77   11.0 
2024-03-28 00:00 UT   02 42 36.0   +12 18 21     2.609    1.877   34.7   17.6    77   11.0 
2024-03-29 00:00 UT   02 44 53.2   +12 30 34     2.616    1.878   34.3   17.4    77   11.0 
2024-03-30 00:00 UT   02 47 10.6   +12 42 41     2.623    1.879   33.9   17.3    78   11.0 
2024-03-31 00:00 UT   02 49 28.3   +12 54 42     2.629    1.879   33.5   17.1    78   11.0 
2024-04-01 00:00 UT   02 51 46.3   +13 06 38     2.636    1.880   33.2   16.9    78   11.0 
2024-04-02 00:00 UT   02 54 04.5   +13 18 28     2.642    1.881   32.8   16.7    78   11.0 


    Terminology:
            
    delta:  distance between minor planet and earth in AU
    radius: distance between minor planet and sun in AU
    magn:   magnitude (brightness) estimate    
    ra:     right ascension in hours (24h = 360deg)
    dec:    declination in degrees
    elong:  elongation in degrees (angle sun-earth-minor planet)    
    phase:  phase angle in degrees (angle sun-minor planet-earth)        
    AU:     Astronomical Unit (mean distance between earth and sun: 149597870.7 km
    

Orbital elements provided by the MPC (Minor Planet Center).
Calculations by a modified version of AAPlus, a C# implementation of the AA+ project by PJ Naughter from the algorithms presented in the book "Astronomical Algorithms" by Jean Meeus.
NGC2000 dso catalog and star labels from VizieR as provided by the Strasbourg astronomical Data Center.
Tycho2 catalog from the ESO archive.