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Asteroid Near-Earth Potentially hazardous

494710

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494710 (2005 MO13)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.891 AU
True anomaly
118.2°
Distance from Earth
1.854 AU
As of
19 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 494710 — 0.891 AU from the Sun 494710
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 494710 is 1.854 AU from Earth today (15.4 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
13h 03m 45s
Declination
-06° 15′ 18″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
1.86 AU
Elongation from the Sun
10.15° — too close to the Sun to observe

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
0.863 AU
Eccentricity
0.4107
Inclination
6.32°
Orbital period
293.1 days
Perihelion
0.509 AU
Aphelion
1.218 AU
Longitude of ascending node
176.54°
Argument of periapsis
250.22°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 16.7 LD
0.0429 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.764

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
449
Data arc
24.06 years
First observed
30 June 2001
Last observed
21 July 2025
Residual RMS
0.46 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
28 November 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
20.75

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
CSS
Discovery date
30 June 2005
Discovery site
Catalina

Also known as 2005 MO13

Aten Near-Earth Object Potentially Hazardous Asteroid

Close approaches 101 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 494710 at 2029-04-15 23:28 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2029-04-15 23:28 UTC close approach of 494710. Catalogue miss distance 53.5 LD · 2.06 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2029-04-12 to 2029-04-18, 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. Sun 53.5 LD · 2.06 × 10⁷ km 2029-04-15 23:28 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2029-04-15 23:28 UTC close approach of 494710. Catalogue miss distance 53.5 LD · 2.06 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2029-04-12 to 2029-04-18, 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.

JPL Horizons

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2027-05-09 07:00:00 Venus 0.0907 AU 35.3 LD 12.2 km/s
2029-04-15 23:28:00 Earth 0.1374 AU 53.5 LD 8.4 km/s
2033-04-09 13:37:00 Earth 0.081 AU 31.5 LD 9.6 km/s
2037-04-08 13:08:00 Earth 0.044 AU 17.1 LD 11.2 km/s
2041-03-07 19:34:00 Venus 0.0694 AU 27.0 LD 15.6 km/s
2041-04-09 09:15:00 Earth 0.0658 AU 25.6 LD 12.9 km/s
2045-04-11 12:52:00 Earth 0.1318 AU 51.3 LD 15.2 km/s
2045-10-20 01:06:00 Venus 0.0775 AU 30.2 LD 13.1 km/s
2054-07-14 07:15:00 Earth 0.1404 AU 54.7 LD 14.2 km/s
2056-03-26 10:06:00 Venus 0.1468 AU 57.1 LD 20.8 km/s

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

Sources