(74) Galatea
ephemeris	date	magn	radius	delta	ra	dec	elong	phase
Today	2 Jul 2025	13.9	2.304 AU	3.194 AU	05h00m	+20°31'	24.1°	10.4°
Opposition	15 Jan 2026	12.7	2.777 AU	1.797 AU	07h45m	+14°53'	173.7°	2.2°

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 Galatea are:

            e (Eccentricity)                : 0.2362803
            a (Semimajor axis)              : 2.7803335
            i (Inclination)                 : 4.07194
            Ω (Longitude of ascending node) : 197.11338
            ω (Argument of perihelion)      : 174.88453
            M (Mean anomaly)                : 21.84003
            Epoch                           : 2025 May 05

            L (Longitude of perihelion)     : 192.01075
            B (Latitude of perihelion)      : 0.36276
            P (Orbital period in years)     : 4.64            
        

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
2025-07-02 00:00 UT   05 00 28.4   +20 31 02     3.194    2.304   24.1   10.4   259   13.9 
2025-07-02 02:57 UT   05 00 43.6   +20 31 17     3.194    2.304   24.1   10.4   259   13.9 
2025-07-03 00:00 UT   05 02 32.1   +20 33 06     3.192    2.306   24.5   10.5   259   13.9 
2025-07-04 00:00 UT   05 04 35.5   +20 35 05     3.189    2.308   25.0   10.7   260   13.9 
2025-07-05 00:00 UT   05 06 38.7   +20 36 56     3.186    2.310   25.5   10.9   260   13.9 
2025-07-06 00:00 UT   05 08 41.7   +20 38 42     3.183    2.312   25.9   11.1   260   14.0 
2025-07-07 00:00 UT   05 10 44.5   +20 40 20     3.180    2.314   26.4   11.3   261   14.0 
2025-07-08 00:00 UT   05 12 47.0   +20 41 53     3.177    2.316   26.9   11.5   261   14.0 
2025-07-09 00:00 UT   05 14 49.2   +20 43 19     3.173    2.318   27.4   11.6   261   14.0 
2025-07-10 00:00 UT   05 16 51.2   +20 44 38     3.170    2.320   27.8   11.8   261   14.0 
2025-07-11 00:00 UT   05 18 52.9   +20 45 51     3.166    2.322   28.3   12.0   262   14.0 
2025-07-12 00:00 UT   05 20 54.4   +20 46 58     3.163    2.324   28.8   12.2   262   14.0 
2025-07-13 00:00 UT   05 22 55.6   +20 47 58     3.159    2.326   29.3   12.3   262   14.0 
2025-07-14 00:00 UT   05 24 56.5   +20 48 52     3.156    2.329   29.8   12.5   262   14.0 
2025-07-15 00:00 UT   05 26 57.1   +20 49 40     3.152    2.331   30.2   12.7   263   14.0 
2025-07-16 00:00 UT   05 28 57.4   +20 50 21     3.148    2.333   30.7   12.9   263   14.0 
2025-07-17 00:00 UT   05 30 57.5   +20 50 57     3.144    2.335   31.2   13.0   263   14.0 
2025-07-18 00:00 UT   05 32 57.2   +20 51 26     3.140    2.337   31.7   13.2   263   14.0 
2025-07-19 00:00 UT   05 34 56.6   +20 51 49     3.136    2.339   32.2   13.4   264   14.0 

    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.