Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.049 AU
- True anomaly
- 233.53°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.18 AU
- As of
- 22 October 2026
Two-body Kepler propagation — accurate to ~0.1% for major planets over decades, less so for highly-perturbed bodies. Use JPL Horizons for high precision.
In the sky
- Right ascension
- 15h 57m 38s
- Declination
- -63° 41′ 57″
- Constellation
- Triangulum Australe
- Distance from Earth
- 1.18 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 56.9° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn
Favours the southern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far north.
From your location
See how high it is right now, whether it is up after civil twilight, and when it rises and sets where you are.
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Two-body approximation, good to about a degree for the planets — enough to find the constellation and know whether it is up.
Orbital elements
- Semi-major axis
- 0.947 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.2964
- Inclination
- 48.97°
- Orbital period
- 336.9 days
- Perihelion
- 0.667 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.228 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 58.53°
- Argument of periapsis
- 37.44°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · ATE
- Aten
- Earth MOID · 43.8 LD
- 0.1127 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 6.027
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).
- Observations used
- 1,473
- Data arc
- 35.25 years
- First observed
- 14 May 1991
- Last observed
- 13 August 2026
- Residual RMS
- 0.53 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 14 August 2026
Physical properties
- Mean radius
- 0.47 km
- Rotation period
- 2.82 hours
Visual & observation
- Geometric albedo
- 0.507
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 16.75
Discovery & classification
- Discovered by
- Shoemaker, C. S.
- Discovery date
- 14 May 1991
- Discovery site
- Palomar
Also known as 5381 · 1991 JY
Close approaches 23 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2038-05-20 20:40 UTC close approach of Sekhmet. Catalogue miss distance 77.3 LD · 2.97 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2038-05-17 to 2038-05-23, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. At closest approach the object is north of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate.
| When (UTC) | Body | Distance | Lunar distances | Relative speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2038-05-20 20:40:00 | Earth | 0.1986 AU | 77.3 LD | 25.3 km/s |
| 2050-05-19 23:14:00 | Earth | 0.1599 AU | 62.2 LD | 24.7 km/s |
| 2062-05-19 07:35:00 | Earth | 0.1334 AU | 51.9 LD | 24.2 km/s |
| 2074-05-18 20:58:00 | Earth | 0.1188 AU | 46.2 LD | 23.9 km/s |
| 2086-05-18 13:31:00 | Earth | 0.1135 AU | 44.2 LD | 23.7 km/s |
| 2098-05-18 09:13:00 | Earth | 0.1136 AU | 44.2 LD | 23.5 km/s |
| 2110-05-19 06:36:00 | Earth | 0.1157 AU | 45.0 LD | 23.4 km/s |
| 2122-05-19 05:18:00 | Earth | 0.1183 AU | 46.0 LD | 23.3 km/s |
| 2134-05-19 05:07:00 | Earth | 0.1202 AU | 46.8 LD | 23.3 km/s |
| 2146-05-19 05:14:00 | Earth | 0.1216 AU | 47.3 LD | 23.3 km/s |
Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.
Sources
- visual properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- physical properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- physical properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- visual properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- orbital elements: JPL SBDB