Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 0.992 AU
- True anomaly
- 235.8°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.758 AU
- As of
- 21 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
- 12h 17m 41s
- Declination
- +06° 13′ 40″
- Constellation
- Virgo
- Distance from Earth
- 1.76 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 27.72° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn
Visible from both hemispheres.
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
- 0.908 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.3512
- Inclination
- 13.6°
- Orbital period
- 316 days
- Perihelion
- 0.589 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.227 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 75.68°
- Argument of periapsis
- 202.72°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · ATE
- Aten
- Earth MOID · 44.2 LD
- 0.1136 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 6.492
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).
- Observations used
- 3,847
- Data arc
- 33.85 years
- First observed
- 1 January 1992
- Last observed
- 8 November 2025
- Residual RMS
- 0.44 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 16 June 2026
Physical properties
- Mean radius
- 0.44 km
- Rotation period
- 21.67 days
Visual & observation
- Geometric albedo
- 0.489
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 16.28
- Spectral type (SMASS)
- S:
Discovery & classification
- Discovered by
- Beijing Schmidt CCD Asteroid Program
- Discovery date
- 1 December 1998
- Discovery site
- Xinglong
Also known as 1998 XB
Close approaches 68 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2029-11-28 15:13 UTC close approach of 96590. Catalogue miss distance 70.9 LD · 2.72 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2029-11-25 to 2029-12-01, 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. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2027-12-10 05:11:00 | Venus | 0.1414 AU | 55.0 LD | 9.7 km/s |
| 2029-11-28 15:13:00 | Earth | 0.1821 AU | 70.9 LD | 10.1 km/s |
| 2032-04-18 00:21:00 | Venus | 0.1429 AU | 55.6 LD | 14.7 km/s |
| 2035-11-13 21:59:00 | Earth | 0.1722 AU | 67.0 LD | 15.2 km/s |
| 2042-07-04 16:11:00 | Venus | 0.0882 AU | 34.3 LD | 12.8 km/s |
| 2046-11-13 17:05:00 | Venus | 0.1184 AU | 46.1 LD | 11.7 km/s |
| 2048-11-14 04:34:00 | Earth | 0.1136 AU | 44.2 LD | 11.7 km/s |
| 2051-03-27 09:59:00 | Venus | 0.1487 AU | 57.9 LD | 12.1 km/s |
| 2055-08-12 06:53:00 | Venus | 0.1454 AU | 56.6 LD | 10 km/s |
| 2059-12-23 16:04:00 | Venus | 0.1372 AU | 53.4 LD | 14 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)
- visual properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- orbital elements: JPL SBDB