5143 Heracles (provisional designation 1991 VL) is a highly eccentric, rare-type asteroid and synchronous binary system, classified as near-Earth object of the Apollo group, approximately 4.8 kilometers in diameter.

[2] It has an Earth minimum orbit intersection distance of 0.058 AU (8.7 million km) and is associated with the Beta Taurids daytime meteor shower.

[8][9][10][13] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link adopts the results from Petr Pravec's revised WISE data, that is, an albedo of 0.1481 and a diameter of 4.83 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 14.27.

[11][12] On 12 July 2012, it was announced that Heracles is an assumed synchronous binary asteroid with a minor-planet moon orbiting its primary in a retrograde motion approximately every 16 hours.

[25] This minor planet was named after Heracles, the divine gatekeeper of Mount Olympus and one of the greatest heroes in Greek mythology, known for his strength and his Twelve Labors.