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Asteroid Near-Earth

2001 FR85

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(2001 FR85)

2001 FR85 is an asteroid in the Aten orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.96 AU to 1.01 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 355.9 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 14 April 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.003 AU
True anomaly
221.34°
Distance from Earth
1.745 AU
As of
2 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 2001 FR85 — 1.003 AU from the Sun 2001 FR85
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2001 FR85 is 1.745 AU from Earth today (14.5 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 34m 49s
Declination
-18° 58′ 00″
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Distance from Earth
1.74 AU
Elongation from the Sun
29.16° — 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
0.983 AU
Eccentricity
0.0279
Inclination
5.25°
Orbital period
355.9 days
Perihelion
0.955 AU
Aphelion
1.01 AU
Longitude of ascending node
183.01°
Argument of periapsis
233.78°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 0.7 LD
0.0019 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.16

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 3).

Observations used
40
Data arc
7 days
First observed
26 March 2001
Last observed
2 April 2001
Residual RMS
0.43 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
14 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
24.8

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 41 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2001 FR85 at 2037-03-26 20:12 UTC Sun 136.9 LD · 5.26 × 10⁷ km 2037-03-26 20:12 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2037-03-26 20:12 UTC close approach of 2001 FR85. Catalogue miss distance 136.9 LD · 5.26 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2037-03-23 to 2037-03-29, 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. 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
2037-03-26 20:12:00 Earth 0.3517 AU 136.9 LD 11.2 km/s
2038-03-21 05:27:00 Earth 0.1949 AU 75.8 LD 6.7 km/s
2039-03-21 00:52:00 Earth 0.0451 AU 17.5 LD 3.2 km/s
2039-09-28 13:35:00 Earth 0.0309 AU 12.0 LD 2.9 km/s
2040-03-28 13:07:00 Earth 0.0582 AU 22.7 LD 3.2 km/s
2040-08-14 08:24:00 Earth 0.0965 AU 37.6 LD 3.5 km/s
2041-04-12 18:15:00 Earth 0.1904 AU 74.1 LD 6.2 km/s
2042-04-27 09:03:00 Earth 0.3306 AU 128.7 LD 10.1 km/s
2043-05-02 09:22:00 Earth 0.4725 AU 183.9 LD 14.3 km/s
2078-03-22 12:44:00 Earth 0.3753 AU 146.1 LD 11.9 km/s

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

Sources