(61) Danae
ephemeris	date	magn	radius	delta	ra	dec	elong	phase
Today	31 Aug 2025	10.8	2.499 AU	1.491 AU	22h40m	-05°20'	176.5°	1.4°
Opposition	1 Sep 2025	10.8	2.499 AU	1.490 AU	22h38m	-05°16'	176.9°	1.2°

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 Danae are:

            e (Eccentricity)                : 0.1639653
            a (Semimajor axis)              : 2.9854583
            i (Inclination)                 : 18.20454
            Ω (Longitude of ascending node) : 333.54329
            ω (Argument of perihelion)      : 12.88161
            M (Mean anomaly)                : 332.19325
            Epoch                           : 2025 May 05

            L (Longitude of perihelion)     : 345.80012
            B (Latitude of perihelion)      : 3.99376
            P (Orbital period in years)     : 5.16            
        

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
2025-08-31 00:00 UT   22 40 10.8   -05 20 13     1.491    2.499  176.5    1.4   194   10.8 
2025-08-31 04:58 UT   22 39 57.8   -05 19 39     1.490    2.499  176.6    1.4   190   10.8 
2025-09-01 00:00 UT   22 39 07.6   -05 17 28     1.490    2.499  176.9    1.3   174   10.8 
2025-09-02 00:00 UT   22 38 04.4   -05 14 45     1.490    2.498  176.8    1.3   152   10.8 
2025-09-03 00:00 UT   22 37 01.2   -05 12 03     1.491    2.498  176.4    1.5   133   10.8 
2025-09-04 00:00 UT   22 35 58.3   -05 09 22     1.491    2.498  175.6    1.8   120   10.8 
2025-09-05 00:00 UT   22 34 55.6   -05 06 43     1.492    2.498  174.7    2.1   110   10.8 
2025-09-06 00:00 UT   22 33 53.2   -05 04 04     1.493    2.498  173.7    2.5   104   10.9 
2025-09-07 00:00 UT   22 32 51.2   -05 01 26     1.495    2.498  172.6    3.0    99   10.9 
2025-09-08 00:00 UT   22 31 49.7   -04 58 49     1.496    2.497  171.5    3.4    96   10.9 
2025-09-09 00:00 UT   22 30 48.6   -04 56 13     1.498    2.497  170.4    3.9    93   11.0 
2025-09-10 00:00 UT   22 29 48.2   -04 53 37     1.501    2.497  169.3    4.3    91   11.0 
2025-09-11 00:00 UT   22 28 48.4   -04 51 01     1.503    2.497  168.1    4.8    90   11.0 
2025-09-12 00:00 UT   22 27 49.4   -04 48 26     1.506    2.497  167.0    5.2    88   11.0 
2025-09-13 00:00 UT   22 26 51.1   -04 45 51     1.509    2.497  165.8    5.7    87   11.1 
2025-09-14 00:00 UT   22 25 53.7   -04 43 16     1.512    2.497  164.7    6.1    86   11.1 
2025-09-15 00:00 UT   22 24 57.2   -04 40 40     1.516    2.497  163.5    6.6    85   11.1 
2025-09-16 00:00 UT   22 24 01.6   -04 38 05     1.520    2.496  162.3    7.0    85   11.2 
2025-09-17 00:00 UT   22 23 07.1   -04 35 29     1.524    2.496  161.2    7.5    84   11.2 
2025-09-18 00:00 UT   22 22 13.7   -04 32 52     1.528    2.496  160.0    7.9    83   11.2 
2025-09-19 00:00 UT   22 21 21.4   -04 30 15     1.533    2.496  158.9    8.3    83   11.2 
2025-09-20 00:00 UT   22 20 30.4   -04 27 36     1.538    2.496  157.7    8.8    82   11.3 
2025-09-21 00:00 UT   22 19 40.5   -04 24 57     1.543    2.496  156.6    9.2    82   11.3 
2025-09-22 00:00 UT   22 18 52.0   -04 22 17     1.548    2.496  155.4    9.6    81   11.3 
2025-09-23 00:00 UT   22 18 04.9   -04 19 35     1.554    2.496  154.3   10.0    81   11.3 
2025-09-24 00:00 UT   22 17 19.1   -04 16 52     1.559    2.496  153.2   10.5    81   11.4 
2025-09-25 00:00 UT   22 16 34.8   -04 14 07     1.565    2.496  152.0   10.9    80   11.4 
2025-09-26 00:00 UT   22 15 52.0   -04 11 20     1.572    2.496  150.9   11.3    80   11.4 
2025-09-27 00:00 UT   22 15 10.7   -04 08 31     1.578    2.496  149.8   11.7    80   11.4 
2025-09-28 00:00 UT   22 14 30.9   -04 05 41     1.585    2.496  148.7   12.0    80   11.5 
2025-09-29 00:00 UT   22 13 52.7   -04 02 48     1.592    2.496  147.6   12.4    79   11.5 
2025-09-30 00:00 UT   22 13 16.1   -03 59 53     1.599    2.496  146.5   12.8    79   11.5 

    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.