Until 18 January 2015 18:00 UT the small dim asteroid either had an elongation less than 45 degrees from the Sun or was significantly fainter than apparent magnitude 23.[6] On 18 January 2015 13:36 UT the asteroid passed 0.00082 AU (123,000 km; 76,000 mi) from the Moon and at 17:09 UT passed 0.0016 AU (240,000 km; 150,000 mi) from Earth.[5] The asteroid was not discovered until 9 days later on 27 January 2015 by Pan-STARRS at an apparent magnitude of 21 using a 1.8-meter (71 in) Ritchey–Chrétien telescope.[3] Two precovery images from 19 January 2015 when the asteroid was apparent magnitude 16 were then located.[2]