(85990) 1999 JV₆ (provisional designation 1999 JV₆) is a sub-kilometer near-Earth asteroid and a potentially hazardous object of the Apollo group. It was discovered by astronomers of the LINEAR program at the Lincoln Laboratory's Experimental Test Site near Socorro, New Mexico. 1999 JV₆ is a contact binary object consisting of two distinct lobes, as seen in radar images from various observatories including Arecibo and Goldstone in January 2015.

In January 2015, 1999 JV₆ approached Earth within a distance of 32.4 lunar distances (0.0833 AU).^[1] During the encounter, 1999 JV₆ was observed by radar from the Arecibo, Green Bank, and Goldstone observatories.^[3] In January 2016, 1999 JV₆ has made another close approach at a distance of 12 lunar distances (0.032 AU), several times closer than the encounter in 2015.^[1][3]

The Minor Planet Center has classified 1999 JV₆ as a potentially hazardous asteroid due to its large size and small Earth minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) of 0.03 AU.^[4][1]

1999 JV₆ was discovered in May 1999 by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) program at the Lincoln Laboratory's Experimental Test Site near Socorro, New Mexico. Most properties of 1999 JV₆ have been determined through photometry, spectroscopy, infrared radiometry, and radar imaging.^[3]

Binzel et al. (2001) have found that 1999 JV₆ has a spectral class of an Xk-type asteroid. Thermal infrared observations using the WISE spacecraft by Mainzer et al. (2011) and the Spitzer Space Telescope by Mueller et al. (2011) give a diameter of 0.45 km (0.28 mi). Warner et al. (2014, 2015) suggest that 1999 JV₆ has a highly elongated shape due to its large light curve amplitude of 0.9 magnitudes. Based on 1999 JV₆'s large brightness changes, they measured a rotation period of 6.54 hours. In January 2015, radar imaging by the Arecibo Observatory and the Green Bank Observatory confirmed 1999 JV₆'s elongated shape and provided delay-Doppler images used to obtain a preliminary estimate of a 3D model for its shape. The radar data reveal an apparent concavity and suggest that 1999 JV₆ is a contact binary.^[4]