Asteroid Near-Earth Potentially hazardous

255071

255071 (2005 UH6)

255071 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.37 AU to 1.63 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 365.9 days. Discovered 28 October 2005 by Mt. Lemmon Survey. Orbit from the JPL solution of 18 January 2026.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun: 1.152 AU
True anomaly: 139.14°
Distance from Earth: 0.793 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.

Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 255071 is 0.793 AU from Earth today (6.6 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension: 20h 13m 22s
Declination: -21° 17′ 26″
Constellation: Capricornus
Distance from Earth: 0.79 AU
Elongation from the Sun: 79.49° — 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.

Paste a location

How do I find my coordinates?

Google Maps on a computer

Right-click the spot where you'll be observing.
The first line of the menu is the coordinates, e.g. 51.50722, -0.12758 — click it and they're copied.
Paste them above.

Google Maps on a phone

Press and hold the spot to drop a pin.
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: 1.001 AU
Eccentricity: 0.6324
Inclination: 2.64°
Orbital period: 365.9 days
Perihelion: 0.368 AU
Aphelion: 1.634 AU
Longitude of ascending node: 19.28°
Argument of periapsis: 200.26°
Epoch · J2000: 2461200.5
Orbit class · APO: Apollo
Earth MOID · 9.0 LD: 0.0232 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter): 5.876

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used: 164
Data arc: 23.23 years
First observed: 26 October 2002
Last observed: 17 January 2026
Residual RMS: 0.63 ″
Solution · Otto Matic: 18 January 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H): 18.37

Discovery & classification

Discovered by: Mt. Lemmon Survey
Discovery date: 28 October 2005
Discovery site: Mount Lemmon

Also known as 2005 UH6

Apollo Near-Earth Object Potentially Hazardous Asteroid

Close approaches 196 on record

When (UTC)	Body	Distance	Lunar distances	Relative speed
2027-07-26 04:15:00	Venus	0.0499 AU	19.4 LD	26.1 km/s
2027-08-19 11:49:00	Merc	0.0626 AU	24.4 LD	33.1 km/s
2027-08-19 11:49:00	Mercury	0.0626 AU	24.4 LD	33.1 km/s
2028-09-06 19:29:00	Merc	0.027 AU	10.5 LD	25.8 km/s
2028-09-06 19:29:00	Mercury	0.027 AU	10.5 LD	25.8 km/s
2033-12-02 07:02:00	Mars	0.0764 AU	29.7 LD	14.4 km/s
2034-09-02 06:49:00	Mercury	0.0835 AU	32.5 LD	22.6 km/s
2034-09-02 06:49:00	Merc	0.0835 AU	32.5 LD	22.6 km/s
2035-07-28 20:11:00	Venus	0.0402 AU	15.7 LD	21.8 km/s
2040-08-28 00:22:00	Merc	0.0558 AU	21.7 LD	22.6 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