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Asteroid Near-Earth

2008 DF5

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(2008 DF5)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.783 AU
True anomaly
67.39°
Distance from Earth
0.916 AU
As of
20 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.

Sun Earth — 0.996 AU from the Sun Earth 2008 DF5 — 0.783 AU from the Sun 2008 DF5
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2008 DF5 is 0.916 AU from Earth today (7.6 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
12h 32m 32s
Declination
+34° 38′ 49″
Constellation
Canes Venatici
Distance from Earth
0.92 AU
Elongation from the Sun
48.15° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

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
0.876 AU
Eccentricity
0.1961
Inclination
41.97°
Orbital period
299.3 days
Perihelion
0.704 AU
Aphelion
1.047 AU
Longitude of ascending node
338.1°
Argument of periapsis
28.67°
Epoch · J2000
2454525.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 10.3 LD
0.0264 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.54

Orbit quality

Orbit very uncertain — the object may be effectively lost (uncertainty code 8).

Observations used
33
Data arc
2 days
First observed
28 February 2008
Last observed
1 March 2008
Residual RMS
0.53 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
23.4

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 24 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2008 DF5 at 2149-02-26 20:22 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2149-02-26 20:22 UTC close approach of 2008 DF5. Catalogue miss distance 33.7 LD · 1.3 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2149-02-23 to 2149-03-01, 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. Sun 33.7 LD · 1.3 × 10⁷ km 2149-02-26 20:22 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2149-02-26 20:22 UTC close approach of 2008 DF5. Catalogue miss distance 33.7 LD · 1.3 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2149-02-23 to 2149-03-01, 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.

JPL Horizons

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2149-02-26 20:22:00 Earth 0.0867 AU 33.7 LD 20.6 km/s
2153-03-11 17:22:00 Earth 0.4934 AU 192.0 LD 27.8 km/s
2153-09-19 22:33:00 Earth 0.3593 AU 139.8 LD 25.7 km/s
2154-02-23 10:52:00 Earth 0.4805 AU 187.0 LD 23.8 km/s
2158-03-01 19:49:00 Earth 0.09 AU 35.0 LD 21.3 km/s
2158-08-17 10:23:00 Earth 0.33 AU 128.4 LD 26.1 km/s
2163-02-24 23:10:00 Earth 0.3119 AU 121.4 LD 21.7 km/s
2167-03-06 02:36:00 Earth 0.2716 AU 105.7 LD 23.6 km/s

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

Sources