512244 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.48 AU to 1.6 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 385.9 days. Discovered 31 December 2015 by Pan-STARRS 1. Orbit from the JPL solution of 26 August 2026.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.574 AU
- True anomaly
- 189.25°
- Distance from Earth
- 2.228 AU
- As of
- 4 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.
In the sky
- Right ascension
- 12h 00m 25s
- Declination
- -23° 26′ 13″
- Constellation
- Corvus
- Distance from Earth
- 2.23 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 38.3° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn
Favours the southern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far north.
From your location
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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
- 1.037 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.5409
- Inclination
- 31.03°
- Orbital period
- 385.9 days
- Perihelion
- 0.476 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.598 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 256.7°
- Argument of periapsis
- 80.59°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 47.7 LD
- 0.1225 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.66
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).
- Observations used
- 272
- Data arc
- 10.02 years
- First observed
- 31 December 2015
- Last observed
- 5 January 2026
- Residual RMS
- 0.49 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 26 August 2026
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 17.8
Discovery & classification
- Discovered by
- Pan-STARRS 1
- Discovery date
- 31 December 2015
- Discovery site
- Haleakala
Also known as 2015 YE18
Close approaches 52 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2036-12-10 08:59 UTC close approach of 512244. Catalogue miss distance 74.5 LD · 2.86 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2036-12-07 to 2036-12-13, 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 south of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate.
| When (UTC) | Body | Distance | Lunar distances | Relative speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2030-07-26 22:44:00 | Venus | 0.1025 AU | 39.9 LD | 25.1 km/s |
| 2036-12-10 08:59:00 | Earth | 0.1915 AU | 74.5 LD | 20.5 km/s |
| 2037-12-16 01:50:00 | Venus | 0.059 AU | 23.0 LD | 28.3 km/s |
| 2045-05-07 14:25:00 | Venus | 0.1271 AU | 49.5 LD | 31.9 km/s |
| 2053-08-18 21:07:00 | Venus | 0.1191 AU | 46.4 LD | 32.3 km/s |
| 2055-12-17 09:28:00 | Earth | 0.1254 AU | 48.8 LD | 23.1 km/s |
| 2061-01-09 12:31:00 | Venus | 0.0409 AU | 15.9 LD | 28.8 km/s |
| 2068-06-01 20:38:00 | Venus | 0.0852 AU | 33.2 LD | 26.1 km/s |
| 2074-12-22 06:13:00 | Earth | 0.1455 AU | 56.6 LD | 25.5 km/s |
| 2079-03-03 18:31:00 | Venus | 0.0838 AU | 32.6 LD | 25.8 km/s |
Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.
Sources
- visual properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- orbital elements: JPL SBDB