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Asteroid Near-Earth

2009 UC

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(2009 UC)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.654 AU
True anomaly
86.5°
Distance from Earth
1.182 AU
As of
16 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 — 0.997 AU from the Sun Earth 2009 UC — 0.654 AU from the Sun 2009 UC
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2009 UC is 1.182 AU from Earth today (9.8 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
15h 14m 29s
Declination
-31° 57′ 43″
Constellation
Lupus
Distance from Earth
1.18 AU
Elongation from the Sun
33.71° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

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.

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
0.76 AU
Eccentricity
0.3474
Inclination
24.78°
Orbital period
241.9 days
Perihelion
0.496 AU
Aphelion
1.024 AU
Longitude of ascending node
22.35°
Argument of periapsis
185.45°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 9.0 LD
0.0232 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
7.5

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).

Observations used
28
Data arc
3 days
First observed
16 October 2009
Last observed
19 October 2009
Residual RMS
0.64 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
26.6

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 53 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2009 UC at 2046-10-14 08:55 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2046-10-14 08:55 UTC close approach of 2009 UC. Catalogue miss distance 171.3 LD · 6.59 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2046-10-11 to 2046-10-17, 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 171.3 LD · 6.59 × 10⁷ km 2046-10-14 08:55 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2046-10-14 08:55 UTC close approach of 2009 UC. Catalogue miss distance 171.3 LD · 6.59 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2046-10-11 to 2046-10-17, 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
2046-10-14 08:55:00 Earth 0.4402 AU 171.3 LD 22.9 km/s
2048-10-12 05:51:00 Earth 0.3703 AU 144.1 LD 20.8 km/s
2050-10-11 13:42:00 Earth 0.3015 AU 117.4 LD 18.7 km/s
2052-10-10 13:08:00 Earth 0.2343 AU 91.2 LD 16.9 km/s
2054-10-11 05:32:00 Earth 0.1691 AU 65.8 LD 15.4 km/s
2056-10-11 16:05:00 Earth 0.1078 AU 42.0 LD 14.2 km/s
2058-10-13 19:32:00 Earth 0.0528 AU 20.6 LD 13.4 km/s
2060-10-15 09:23:00 Earth 0.0245 AU 9.5 LD 13 km/s

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

Sources