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Asteroid Near-Earth Potentially hazardous

85990

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85990 (1999 JV6)

85990 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.69 AU to 1.32 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 370.2 days; it is about 0.45 km across. Discovered 13 May 1999 by LINEAR. Orbit from the JPL solution of 16 June 2026.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.835 AU
True anomaly
287.11°
Distance from Earth
1.536 AU
As of
3 November 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.

Sun Earth — 0.992 AU from the Sun Earth 85990 — 0.835 AU from the Sun 85990
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 85990 is 1.536 AU from Earth today (12.8 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 39m 12s
Declination
-21° 17′ 16″
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Distance from Earth
1.53 AU
Elongation from the Sun
29.71° — 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
1.009 AU
Eccentricity
0.3116
Inclination
5.36°
Orbital period
370.2 days
Perihelion
0.695 AU
Aphelion
1.323 AU
Longitude of ascending node
124.2°
Argument of periapsis
235.71°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · APO
Apollo
Earth MOID · 12.2 LD
0.0314 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
5.99

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
1,203
Data arc
24.71 years
First observed
13 May 1999
Last observed
28 January 2024
Residual RMS
0.36 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
16 June 2026

Physical properties

Mean radius
0.23 km
Rotation period
6.54 hours

Visual & observation

Geometric albedo
0.095
Absolute magnitude (H)
20.27
Spectral type (SMASS)
Xk

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
LINEAR
Discovery date
13 May 1999
Discovery site
Socorro

Also known as 1999 JV6

Apollo Near-Earth Object Potentially Hazardous Asteroid

Close approaches 71 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 85990 at 2078-05-28 11:13 UTC Sun 67.2 LD · 2.58 × 10⁷ km 2078-05-28 11:13 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2078-05-28 11:13 UTC close approach of 85990. Catalogue miss distance 67.2 LD · 2.58 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2078-05-25 to 2078-05-31, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. At closest approach the object is north of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate.

JPL Horizons

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2027-11-27 07:57:00 Venus 0.0753 AU 29.3 LD 10.9 km/s
2042-03-02 22:14:00 Venus 0.0362 AU 14.1 LD 6.7 km/s
2056-05-19 11:23:00 Venus 0.1419 AU 55.2 LD 13.8 km/s
2059-04-24 04:17:00 Venus 0.0152 AU 5.9 LD 7.3 km/s
2073-08-04 10:06:00 Venus 0.0745 AU 29.0 LD 10.2 km/s
2076-07-06 03:04:00 Venus 0.0504 AU 19.6 LD 9.6 km/s
2078-05-28 11:13:00 Earth 0.1726 AU 67.2 LD 14.3 km/s
2079-06-01 01:21:00 Earth 0.1123 AU 43.7 LD 12.2 km/s
2080-06-03 14:17:00 Earth 0.0763 AU 29.7 LD 10.2 km/s
2081-06-07 08:56:00 Earth 0.092 AU 35.8 LD 8.2 km/s

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

Sources