Eros — asteroid, shown live in Cosmoscope, a real-time 3D map of the universe.
The first asteroid ever orbited and landed on. NEAR Shoemaker touched down on this peanut-shaped world in 2001 — the shape you see here is the real laser-mapped model.
Cosmoscope puts Eros at its true position in the solar system, computed from JPL-derived ephemeris and updated continuously. Open the live 3D view to see, in real time, how far Eros is from the Sun and from Earth right now, how many minutes or hours light takes to cross that gap, and how fast it is moving along its orbit. Scrub the timeline to place Eros where it was on any past date, or where it will be years from now.