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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 4:45 
Transit: 13:02 
Sunset: 21:19
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Dwarf Planets and Asteroids » 

Asteroid 101955 Bennu (1999 RQ36)

Below the horizon.  Rise: 12:34 | Tran: 18:16 | Set: 23:58
Alt: -13.33°   Az: 78.13°   Direction: South-West

Asteroid 101955 Bennu (1999 RQ36) is in the constellation of Leo, at a distance of 154,329,949.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 11h 36m 14s and the Declination is -03° 11’ 31” (apparent coordinates). The magnitude of asteroid 101955 Bennu (1999 RQ36) is 23.19.

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of asteroid 101955 Bennu (1999 RQ36) in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

Star map showing the position of asteroid 101955 Bennu (1999 RQ36) in the constellation of Leo on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.
Star map showing the position of asteroid 101955 Bennu (1999 RQ36) in the constellation of Leo on F, d Y. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive star map.

The following map uses photographic imagery from the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) to realistically visualize the precise position of asteroid 101955 Bennu (1999 RQ36) against the stars in the background. The horizontal size of the map measures 60 arcminutes. Click on the image to access a more detailed full-screen view.

101955 Bennu (1999 RQ36)
RA: 11h 34m 56s
Dec: -03° 03’ 03”
Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of asteroid 101955 Bennu (1999 RQ36). Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

11h 36m 14s
-03° 11’ 31”
16h 49m 59s
04h 26m 14s

J2000

11h 34m 56s
-03° 03’ 03”

Additional Information

Leo
23.19

Rise and Set Times

The following table lists today's rise, transit and set times of asteroid 101955 Bennu (1999 RQ36) from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 93.2°
Max altitude: 35.2°
Azimuth: 266.6°

If you need to access this information frequently for your observations, you can create a simple customized Quick Access page, so that you can easily bookmark it in your browser favorites or add a shortcut to your mobile phones' home screen.

Distance from Earth

The distance of asteroid 101955 Bennu (1999 RQ36) from Earth is currently 154,329,949.0 kilometers, equivalent to 1.0316319897 Astronomical Units. Light takes 8m 34.789s to travel from asteroid 101955 Bennu (1999 RQ36) and arrive to us.

154,329,949.0
1.0316319897
8m 34.789s

The following graph shows the distance of asteroid 101955 Bennu (1999 RQ36) from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance is measured in Astronomical Units and the data is sampled with an interval of 1 day.

Chart of the distance of asteroid 101955 Bennu (1999 RQ36) from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)
Note: The values in this chart may not be entirely accurate around the time of closest approach for objects passing very close to Earth at high speed (e.g., Near-Earth Objects).

The value of the distance of 101955 Bennu (1999 RQ36) from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the live position tracker.

Closest Approach to Earth

In the period between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2099, the closest approach of asteroid 101955 Bennu (1999 RQ36) to Earth will happen on Thursday 23 September 2060 at a distance of 0.005008 Astronomical Units, or 749,209 kilometers:

Thursday 23 September 2060
749,209
0.005008

Note: the values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.

Light Curve

The following chart shows the light curve of asteroid 101955 Bennu (1999 RQ36), i.e., its apparent magnitude as a function of time. The curve is calculated using the latest ephemerides provided by JPL Horizons. The magnitude data is sampled with the interval of 2 days. Because of this sampling, inaccuracies may occur for objects that have large variations of brightness over a few days. For comets, large discrepancies can arise between the calculated brightness and the observations due to their highly dynamic, and not always precisely predictable, behavior.

Chart of the magnitude of asteroid 101955 Bennu (1999 RQ36) as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of asteroid 101955 Bennu (1999 RQ36) at epoch December, 31 2010 00:00 UTC (JD: 2455562.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.20374508
Orbit inclination i 6.03494377°
Perihelion distance q 0.89689440 AU
134,173,493 km
Aphelion distance Q 1.35588765 AU
202,837,906 km
Semi-major axis a 1.12639103 AU
168,505,699 km
Orbital period period 1.1955 years
436.6487 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp August 30, 2010
2,455,439.1419 JD
Next perihelion transit November 10, 2011
2,455,875.7907 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 66.223060840843°
Longitude of the ascending node node 2.0608661956964°
Mean anomaly M 101.70395200246°
Mean motion n 0.82446135°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of asteroid 101955 Bennu (1999 RQ36) relative to the other major objects in the Solar System. You can access more advanced features using our 3D Solar System Viewer.

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of asteroid 101955 Bennu (1999 RQ36) computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Apparent celestial coordinates are provided.

Date Right AscensionR.A. DeclinationDec. MagnitudeMag Constellation
Jun 19 2025 11h 17m 39s -00° 57’ 42” 23.09 Leo
Jun 20 2025 11h 20m 10s -01° 15’ 57” 23.10 Leo
Jun 21 2025 11h 22m 41s -01° 34’ 07” 23.12 Leo
Jun 22 2025 11h 25m 11s -01° 52’ 14” 23.13 Leo
Jun 23 2025 11h 27m 42s -02° 10’ 16” 23.15 Leo
Jun 24 2025 11h 30m 12s -02° 28’ 14” 23.16 Leo
Jun 25 2025 11h 32m 42s -02° 46’ 09” 23.18 Leo
Jun 26 2025 11h 35m 11s -03° 04’ 01” 23.19 Leo
Jun 27 2025 11h 37m 41s -03° 21’ 47” 23.20 Leo
Jun 28 2025 11h 40m 10s -03° 39’ 31” 23.22 Virgo
Jun 29 2025 11h 42m 39s -03° 57’ 10” 23.23 Virgo
Jun 30 2025 11h 45m 09s -04° 14’ 46” 23.24 Virgo
Jul 01 2025 11h 47m 38s -04° 32’ 18” 23.26 Virgo
Jul 02 2025 11h 50m 06s -04° 49’ 46” 23.27 Virgo

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