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Dwarf Planets and Asteroids » 

Asteroid 19 Fortuna

Above the horizon.  Rise: 9:50 | Tran: 17:00 | Set: 0:11
Alt: 20.87°   Az: 94.19°   Direction: East

Asteroid 19 Fortuna was discovered by English astronomer John Russell Hind on August 22, 1852. It is a large main-belt asteroid with a diameter of approximately 200 km and an irregular shape. Fortuna's name comes from the Roman goddess of luck and fortune, and it was named by John Herschel, a British astronomer and son of William Herschel who discovered Uranus. Fortuna has a relatively short rotation period of 6.25 hours, and it orbits the Sun in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter with a period of 3.9 years. It has been found to be a somewhat rare type of asteroid known as an S-type asteroid, which suggests a composition of silicate rock and metal.

Asteroid 19 Fortuna is in the constellation of Aries, at a distance of 315,420,317.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 02h 27m 49s and the Declination is +13° 39’ 59” (apparent coordinates). The magnitude of Asteroid 19 Fortuna is 11.95 (data provided by JPL Horizons).

Finder Charts

Map showing Asteroid 19 Fortuna in Aries on February, 11 2025. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map
Sky map showing Asteroid 19 Fortuna in Aries on February, 11 2025. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive sky chart

High precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Asteroid 19 Fortuna is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

19 Fortuna
RA: 02h 26m 27s
Dec: +13° 33’ 16”
Deep sky finder chart for Asteroid 19 Fortuna. Field of view: 60x40 arcmins. View in deep sky object tracker

Also check out Where is Asteroid 19 Fortuna?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Asteroid 19 Fortuna in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

02h 27m 49s
+13° 39’ 59”
19h 05m 50s
21h 33m 40s

J2000

02h 26m 27s
+13° 33’ 16”

Additional Information

Aries
11.95

Rise and Set Times

Today's rise, transit and set times of Asteroid 19 Fortuna from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 76.3°
Max altitude: 52.2°
Azimuth: 283.6°
  • 19 Fortuna is above the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
  • Right now it is placed in the East direction at an altitude of 20.87° above the horizon.
  • Given its current magnitude, 19 Fortuna is visible with the help of a telescope having an aperture of 4 inches (100mm) or more.
  • Go to interactive sky chart

If you need to access this information frequently for your observations, you can create a simple customized Quick Access page, so that you can easily bookmark it in your browser favorites or add a shortcut to your mobile phones' home screen.

Distance from Earth

The distance of Asteroid 19 Fortuna from Earth is currently 315,420,317.0 kilometers, equivalent to 2.1084545891 Astronomical Units. Light takes 17m 32.129s to travel from Asteroid 19 Fortuna and arrive to us.

315,420,317.0
2.1084545891
17m 32.129s

The following chart shows the distance of Asteroid 19 Fortuna from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance data is measured in Astronomical Units and sampled with an interval of 1 day.

Chart of the distance of Asteroid 19 Fortuna from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)

The value of the reported distance might be somewhat inaccurate around the times of closest approach for objects passing extremely close to Earth. The value of the distance of 19 Fortuna from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach

Between 1 January 1900 and 31 December 2099, the closest approach of Asteroid 19 Fortuna to Earth happens on Fri Oct 15 1982 at a distance of 1.062725 Astronomical Units, or 158,981,460 kilometers:

Fri Oct 15 1982
158,981,460
1.062725

NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.

Light Curve

The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of Asteroid 19 Fortuna, according to the most recent ephemerides data. Magnitude data is sampled with a 2 days interval and there might be inaccuracies for objects changing brightness very rapidly during the course of a few days. For comets there could be large discrepancies between the observed and predicted brightness because of their highly dynamic behaviour.

Chart of the magnitude of Asteroid 19 Fortuna as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of Asteroid 19 Fortuna at epoch 24 February 2023 00:00 UTC (JD: 2460000.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.15723131
Orbit inclination i 1.57340958°
Perihelion distance q 2.05861586 AU
307,964,550 km
Aphelion distance Q 2.82674802 AU
422,875,485 km
Semi-major axis a 2.44268194 AU
365,420,018 km
Orbital period period 3.8178 years
1,394.4367 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp 2024-Nov-12 12:13:28
2,460,627.0094 JD
Next perihelion transit 2028-Sep-06 22:42
2,462,021.4461 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 182.54338740356°
Longitude of the ascending node node 211.03425010505°
Mean anomaly M 198.25485576423°
Mean motion n 0.25816876°/day

Orbit Visualization

Orbit Diagram of Asteroid 19 Fortuna
View Asteroid 19 Fortuna in the 3D Solar System Simulator

Physical Data

The following shows the known values of the most important physical parameters of Asteroid 19 Fortuna. Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Physical Parameter Value Relative to Earth
Diameter 200 km 0.0157
Sideral Rotation 7.4432 hours 0.3110
Absolute Magnitude 7.13
Geometric Albedo 0.037

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Asteroid 19 Fortuna computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Apparent celestial coordinates are provided.

Date Right AscensionR.A. DeclinationDec. MagnitudeMag Constellation
2025 Feb 04 02h 15m 37s +12° 40’ 28” 11.86 Aries
2025 Feb 05 02h 17m 12s +12° 48’ 21” 11.88 Aries
2025 Feb 06 02h 18m 48s +12° 56’ 16” 11.89 Aries
2025 Feb 07 02h 20m 25s +13° 04’ 11” 11.90 Aries
2025 Feb 08 02h 22m 02s +13° 12’ 07” 11.91 Aries
2025 Feb 09 02h 23m 41s +13° 20’ 04” 11.92 Aries
2025 Feb 10 02h 25m 20s +13° 28’ 01” 11.93 Aries
2025 Feb 11 02h 26m 59s +13° 35’ 58” 11.94 Aries
2025 Feb 12 02h 28m 39s +13° 43’ 56” 11.95 Aries
2025 Feb 13 02h 30m 20s +13° 51’ 53” 11.96 Aries
2025 Feb 14 02h 32m 01s +13° 59’ 50” 11.98 Aries
2025 Feb 15 02h 33m 43s +14° 07’ 48” 11.99 Aries
2025 Feb 16 02h 35m 25s +14° 15’ 44” 12.00 Aries
2025 Feb 17 02h 37m 09s +14° 23’ 41” 12.01 Aries

Additional Resources