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Asteroid Near-Earth

Tezcatlipoca

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1980 Tezcatlipoca (1950 LA)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.094 AU
True anomaly
347.1°
Distance from Earth
0.678 AU
As of
11 October 2026

Two-body Kepler propagation — accurate to ~0.1% for major planets over decades, less so for highly-perturbed bodies. Use JPL Horizons for high precision.

Orbit of Mercury Orbit of Venus Orbit of Mars Sun Earth — 0.998 AU from the Sun Earth Tezcatlipoca — 1.094 AU from the Sun Tezcatlipoca
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Tezcatlipoca is 0.678 AU from Earth today (5.6 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
18h 09m 43s
Declination
+21° 54′ 41″
Constellation
Hercules
Distance from Earth
0.68 AU
Elongation from the Sun
78.94° — well clear of the Sun

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

From your location

See how high it is right now, whether it is up after civil twilight, and when it rises and sets where you are.

How do I find my coordinates?

Google Maps on a computer

  1. Right-click the spot where you'll be observing.
  2. The first line of the menu is the coordinates, e.g. 51.50722, -0.12758 — click it and they're copied.
  3. Paste them above.

Google Maps on a phone

  1. Press and hold the spot to drop a pin.
  2. The coordinates appear in the search bar (or on the pin's card) — tap to copy, then paste above.

A full Google Maps link works too, but the short maps.app.goo.gl share links don't carry coordinates — copy the numbers instead. We round to about a kilometre; that's all the sky calculation needs.

Know your what3words address? Paste it, e.g. ///filled.count.soap. This is optional — the three words are sent to what3words to convert them, and we don't store the address or the result.

Your location stays in your browser and is sent only for this calculation. Using a what3words address is optional; if you do, the three words go to what3words to be converted and we don't record them. Set a location first, then you can save an email alert for this object. See our privacy policy.

Two-body approximation, good to about a degree for the planets — enough to find the constellation and know whether it is up.

Orbital elements

Semi-major axis
1.71 AU
Eccentricity
0.3647
Inclination
26.87°
Orbital period
816.4 days
Perihelion
1.086 AU
Aphelion
2.333 AU
Longitude of ascending node
246.54°
Argument of periapsis
115.46°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · AMO
Amor
Earth MOID · 95.3 LD
0.2449 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.996

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
10,211
Data arc
76.31 years
First observed
19 June 1950
Last observed
9 October 2026
Residual RMS
0.28 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
10 October 2026

Physical properties

Mean radius
2.15 km
Rotation period
7.25 hours

Visual & observation

Geometric albedo
0.25
Absolute magnitude (H)
13.8
Colour index (B–V)
0.96
Spectral type (SMASS)
Sl
Spectral type (Tholen)
SU
Colour index (U–B)
0.46

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Wilson, A. G., Wallenquist, A. A. E.
Discovery date
19 June 1950
Discovery site
Palomar

Also known as 1980 · 1950 LA

Amor Near-Earth Object Named

Sources