2015 YQ₁ (also written 2015 YQ1) is an Apollo asteroid that is a temporary horseshoe companion to the Earth, the twelfth known Earth horseshoe librator.^[6] It experienced a close encounter with the Earth on 2015 December 22 at 0.0037 AU.

2015 YQ₁ was discovered on 2015 December 19 by A. D. Grauer observing with the 1.5-m reflector telescope at the Mount Lemmon Survey.^[7] As of 9 March 2016, it has been observed 64 times with an observation arc of 3 days.^[2]

2015 YQ₁ is currently an Apollo asteroid (Earth-crossing but with a period greater than a year). Its semi-major axis (currently 1.00134 AU) is similar to that of Earth (1.00074 AU), but it has a relatively high eccentricity (0.40398) and low orbital inclination (2.4865°). It alternates between being an Aten asteroid and being an Apollo asteroid. As of 9 March 2016, this object is the 17th known Earth co-orbital and the 12th known object following a horseshoe path with respect to our planet. Asteroid 2015 YQ₁ follows an asymmetrical horseshoe path with respect to our planet; the value of its relative mean longitude oscillates about 180°, but enclosing 0°; its orbital evolution is rather unstable.^[6]

With an absolute magnitude of 28.1 mag, it has a diameter in the range 7–16 meters (for an assumed albedo range of 0.04–0.20, respectively).

Further reading

• Understanding the Distribution of Near-Earth Asteroids Bottke, W. F., Jedicke, R., Morbidelli, A., Petit, J.-M., Gladman, B. 2000, Science, Vol. 288, Issue 5474, pp. 2190–2194.
• A Numerical Survey of Transient Co-orbitals of the Terrestrial Planets Christou, A. A. 2000, Icarus, Vol. 144, Issue 1, pp. 1–20.
• Debiased Orbital and Absolute Magnitude Distribution of the Near-Earth Objects Bottke, W. F., Morbidelli, A., Jedicke, R., Petit, J.-M., Levison, H. F., Michel, P., Metcalfe, T. S. 2002, Icarus, Vol. 156, Issue 2, pp. 399–433.
• Transient co-orbital asteroids Brasser, R., Innanen, K. A., Connors, M., Veillet, C., Wiegert, P., Mikkola, S., Chodas, P. W. 2004, Icarus, Vol. 171, Issue 1, pp. 102–109.
• A trio of horseshoes: past, present and future dynamical evolution of Earth co-orbital asteroids 2015 XX₁₆₉, 2015 YA and 2015 YQ₁ de la Fuente Marcos, C., de la Fuente Marcos, R. 2016, Astrophysics and Space Science, Vol. 361, Issue 4, article 121 (13 pp).

• MPEC 2015-Y53 : 2015 YQ1, Discovery Minor Planet Electronic Circular, (at ADS)
• 2015 YQ₁ data at MPC
• 2015 YQ1 at NeoDyS-2, Near Earth Objects—Dynamic Site
  • Ephemerides · Observation prediction · Orbital info · MOID · Proper elements · Observational info · Close approaches · Physical info · Orbit animation
• 2015 YQ1 at ESA–space situational awareness
  • Ephemerides · Observations · Orbit · Physical properties · Summary
• 2015 YQ1 at the JPL Small-Body Database
  • Close approach · Discovery · Ephemeris · Orbit viewer · Orbit parameters · Physical parameters