136199 Eris's 560.7-year orbit around the Sun will carry it to its furthest point to the Sun – its aphelion – at a distance of 97.59 AU.
Unlike most of the planets, which follow almost exactly circular orbits around the Sun which only vary in their distance from the Sun by a few percent, 136199 Eris has a significantly elliptical orbit. Its distance from the Sun varies between 38.29 AU and 97.71 AU – a variation of over 155% – meaning that it receives 84% less heat and light from the Sun at aphelion as compared to perihelion.
Finding 136199 Eris
136199 Eris's distance from the Sun doesn't affect its appearance. From South El Monte, at the moment of aphelion it will not be observable – it will reach its highest point in the sky during daytime and will be 15° below the horizon at dawn.
A chart of the path of 136199 Eris across the sky in 1978 can be found here, and a chart of its rising and setting times here.
The position of 136199 Eris at the moment it passes aphelion will be:
| Object | Right Ascension | Declination | Constellation | Magnitude | Angular Size |
| 136199 Eris | 01h23m50s | 12°07'S | Cetus | 18.8 | 0.0" |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0.
The sky on 6 May 2026
| The sky on 6 May 2026 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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76% 19 days old |
All times shown in PDT.
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Source
The circumstances of this event were computed using the DE430 planetary ephemeris published by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
This event was automatically generated by searching the ephemeris for planetary alignments which are of interest to amateur astronomers, and the text above was generated based on an estimate of your location.
Related news
| 06 Oct 1977 | – 136199 Eris at opposition |
| 07 Oct 1978 | – 136199 Eris at opposition |
| 07 Oct 1979 | – 136199 Eris at opposition |
| 07 Oct 1980 | – 136199 Eris at opposition |
Image credit
© NASA/Hubble Space Telescope