2005 QQ87 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.7 AU to 1.3 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 366.1 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 20 December 2022.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.278 AU
- True anomaly
- 162.6°
- Distance from Earth
- 0.799 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.
In the sky
- Right ascension
- 21h 49m 59s
- Declination
- -48° 23′ 18″
- Constellation
- Grus
- Distance from Earth
- 0.8 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 90.43° — well clear of the Sun
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.
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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
- 1.002 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.3015
- Inclination
- 33.97°
- Orbital period
- 366.1 days
- Perihelion
- 0.7 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.304 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 154.99°
- Argument of periapsis
- 54.87°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 30.6 LD
- 0.0787 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.889
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).
- Observations used
- 89
- Data arc
- 16.99 years
- First observed
- 31 August 2005
- Last observed
- 26 August 2022
- Residual RMS
- 0.5 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 20 December 2022
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 22.84
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 102 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-08-27 16:36 UTC close approach of 2005 QQ87. Catalogue miss distance 58.3 LD · 2.24 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-08-24 to 2027-08-30, 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.
| When (UTC) | Body | Distance | Lunar distances | Relative speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2027-08-27 16:36:00 | Earth | 0.1498 AU | 58.3 LD | 20.6 km/s |
| 2028-08-27 06:42:00 | Earth | 0.1626 AU | 63.3 LD | 20.9 km/s |
| 2029-08-27 22:00:00 | Earth | 0.1765 AU | 68.7 LD | 21.2 km/s |
| 2030-08-28 13:40:00 | Earth | 0.1915 AU | 74.5 LD | 21.5 km/s |
| 2031-08-29 06:27:00 | Earth | 0.2074 AU | 80.7 LD | 21.9 km/s |
| 2032-08-29 00:04:00 | Earth | 0.2245 AU | 87.4 LD | 22.2 km/s |
| 2033-08-29 18:23:00 | Earth | 0.2424 AU | 94.3 LD | 22.6 km/s |
| 2034-08-30 13:59:00 | Earth | 0.2606 AU | 101.4 LD | 23 km/s |
| 2035-08-31 09:19:00 | Earth | 0.279 AU | 108.6 LD | 23.5 km/s |
| 2036-08-31 05:59:00 | Earth | 0.2981 AU | 116.0 LD | 23.9 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