612343 is an asteroid in the Aten orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.53 AU to 1.45 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 358.9 days. Discovered 23 March 2002 by LINEAR. Orbit from the JPL solution of 13 April 2022.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.183 AU
- True anomaly
- 137.91°
- Distance from Earth
- 2.114 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.
In the sky
- Right ascension
- 13h 37m 05s
- Declination
- -09° 35′ 39″
- Constellation
- Virgo
- Distance from Earth
- 2.12 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 15.01° — too close to the Sun to observe
Visible from both hemispheres.
From your location
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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
- 0.988 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.4626
- Inclination
- 9.49°
- Orbital period
- 358.9 days
- Perihelion
- 0.531 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.446 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 188.41°
- Argument of periapsis
- 226.84°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · ATE
- Aten
- Earth MOID · 15.8 LD
- 0.0407 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 6.027
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).
- Observations used
- 72
- Data arc
- 17.26 years
- First observed
- 23 March 2002
- Last observed
- 25 June 2019
- Residual RMS
- 0.75 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 13 April 2022
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 22.66
Discovery & classification
- Discovered by
- LINEAR
- Discovery date
- 23 March 2002
- Discovery site
- Socorro
Also known as 2002 FT6
Close approaches 231 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2055-03-31 16:21 UTC close approach of 612343. Catalogue miss distance 158.7 LD · 6.1 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2055-03-28 to 2055-04-03, 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.
| When (UTC) | Body | Distance | Lunar distances | Relative speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2030-06-20 21:11:00 | Venus | 0.1485 AU | 57.8 LD | 14.4 km/s |
| 2035-05-16 00:55:00 | Venus | 0.1265 AU | 49.2 LD | 14.2 km/s |
| 2040-04-10 18:01:00 | Venus | 0.1092 AU | 42.5 LD | 14.8 km/s |
| 2045-03-08 21:52:00 | Venus | 0.1023 AU | 39.8 LD | 16.2 km/s |
| 2050-02-04 17:38:00 | Venus | 0.1121 AU | 43.6 LD | 18.1 km/s |
| 2055-01-03 20:38:00 | Venus | 0.1421 AU | 55.3 LD | 20.5 km/s |
| 2055-03-31 16:21:00 | Earth | 0.4079 AU | 158.7 LD | 26.7 km/s |
| 2056-03-26 12:07:00 | Earth | 0.3064 AU | 119.3 LD | 23.5 km/s |
| 2057-03-22 11:55:00 | Earth | 0.2041 AU | 79.4 LD | 20.3 km/s |
| 2058-03-18 21:51:00 | Earth | 0.1046 AU | 40.7 LD | 17.2 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