87 Sylvia
An outer main-belt asteroid about 253 km across, 3.5 AU out and 6.5 years to a lap of the Sun.
Where it is right now
87 Sylvia is in Cancer, 4.72 AU away, magnitude 13.5.
Computed for 2 August 2026, 17:00 UTC, and recomputed at least hourly. This page is cached, so treat the line above as accurate to the hour rather than to the second. The map shows the live position.
Position from a Kepler propagation of the published elements below, accurate to about an arcminute.
Facts
Every line carries the source it came from.
- Diameter
- 253 kmSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
- Orbital period
- 6.5 yearsSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
- Distance from the Sun
- 3.491 AU on averageSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
- Orbit shape
- eccentricity 0.094, inclined 10.8 degrees to the eclipticSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
- Class
- Outer main-belt asteroidSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
- Discovered
- 1866-May-16 by Pogson, N. R.Source: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
Physical size
- Mean radius
- 127 km
- Diameter
- 253 km across
- Absolute magnitude H
- 6.93
Orbit
Elements are heliocentric, referred to the J2000.0 ecliptic.
- Average distance from the Sun
- 3.491 AU (522.2 million km)
- Closest and furthest
- 3.162 AU (473.0 million km) to 3.820 AU (571.5 million km)
- Eccentricity
- 0.0942, slightly elliptical
- Inclination to the ecliptic
- 10.85 degrees
- Orbital period
- 6.5 years (2,382 days)
- Longitude of ascending node
- 72.95 degrees
- Argument of periapsis
- 267.10 degrees
- Mean anomaly at J2000.0
- 104.88 degrees
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Catalog id sylvia. 3,172 objects on the map, of which 171 are hand-authored with sourced facts.