(31824) Elatus Centaur
Discovered on 29 October 1999 by CSS at Catalina.
The name of the centaur Elatus is associated with woodlands and means “fir man”, perhaps because he used to pull up whole fir trees and use them as weapons. During a battle with Hercules, Elatus was killed by a poisoned arrow that passed through his arm and continued to wound Chiron in the knee.Naming citation (20030614/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Elatus is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Elatus is 14.4 au from the Sun and 15.3 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 31824 |
| Provisional designation | 1999 UG5 |
| Orbit class | Centaur |
| Diameter | 57.0 km (#635 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.0500 |
| Rotation period | 26.8 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 10.26 |
| Orbital period | 40.4 years |
| Semi-major axis | 11.8 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 7.26 – 16.3 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.383 |
| Inclination | 5.25° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 6.26 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also discovered on 29 October 1999
- (13410) Arhale
- (13412) Guerrieri
- (13413) Bobpeterson
- (13414) Grantham
- (13415) Stevenbland
- (14674) INAOE
- (15513) Emmermann
- (21873) Jindrichuvhradec
- (21888) Durech
- (22961) Rosegarcia
- (24090) Grindavik
- (24093) Tomoyamaguchi