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Asteroid Near-Earth

Leonard

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53435 Leonard (1999 VM40)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.014 AU
True anomaly
211.45°
Distance from Earth
3.639 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 Leonard — 3.014 AU from the Sun Leonard
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Leonard is 3.639 AU from Earth today (30.3 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
15h 59m 46s
Declination
-26° 11′ 28″
Constellation
Scorpius
Distance from Earth
3.64 AU
Elongation from the Sun
44.35° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

Favours the southern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far north.

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
2.311 AU
Eccentricity
0.4829
Inclination
15.35°
Orbital period
3.51 years
Perihelion
1.195 AU
Aphelion
3.427 AU
Longitude of ascending node
51.35°
Argument of periapsis
354.49°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · AMO
Amor
Earth MOID · 79.9 LD
0.2053 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.377

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
3,335
Data arc
51.92 years
First observed
13 August 1974
Last observed
16 July 2026
Residual RMS
0.43 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
17 July 2026

Physical properties

Rotation period
5.19 hours

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
14.73
Spectral type (SMASS)
S

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
CSS
Discovery date
9 November 1999
Discovery site
Catalina

Gregory J. Leonard (b. 1963) is an American geologist and planetary scientist. He has contributed to studies of alpine glaciers and hazards, the geology of terrestrial planets, and near-Earth asteroid surveys. With the Catalina Sky Survey he has discovered many near-Earth asteroids and comets, including the naked-eye comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard).

Also known as 53435 · 1999 VM40

Amor Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 2 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2149-02-20 22:12:00 Juptr 1.995 AU 776.4 LD 3.2 km/s

Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.

Sources