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Centaur

859494

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859494 (2013 OL15)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.43 AU
True anomaly
36.97°
Distance from Earth
2.453 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 859494 — 3.43 AU from the Sun 859494
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 859494 is 2.453 AU from Earth today (20.4 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
01h 58m 49s
Declination
+01° 59′ 36″
Constellation
Cetus
Distance from Earth
2.45 AU
Elongation from the Sun
166.74° — near opposition — up most of the night

Visible from both hemispheres.

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
5.549 AU
Eccentricity
0.4185
Inclination
16.81°
Orbital period
13.07 years
Perihelion
3.227 AU
Aphelion
7.871 AU
Longitude of ascending node
48.79°
Argument of periapsis
298.84°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · CEN
Centaur
Earth MOID · 881.8 LD
2.2659 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.733

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
57
Data arc
14.23 years
First observed
24 May 2011
Last observed
15 August 2025
Residual RMS
0.71 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
30 October 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
15.38

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Pan-STARRS 1
Discovery date
20 July 2013
Discovery site
Haleakala

Also known as 2013 OL15

Centaur

Close approaches 9 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2089-05-18 17:55:00 Juptr 1.4677 AU 571.2 LD 9.2 km/s
2101-06-04 20:04:00 Juptr 1.2706 AU 494.5 LD 4.4 km/s
2118-12-22 15:24:00 Juptr 1.0833 AU 421.6 LD 5.6 km/s

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

Sources