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Asteroid Near-Earth Potentially hazardous

378160

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378160 (2006 WX1)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.849 AU
True anomaly
93.39°
Distance from Earth
0.598 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.

Sun Earth — 0.995 AU from the Sun Earth 378160 — 0.849 AU from the Sun 378160
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 378160 is 0.598 AU from Earth today (5.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
17h 47m 17s
Declination
-16° 27′ 09″
Constellation
Sagittarius
Distance from Earth
0.6 AU
Elongation from the Sun
58.43° — 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.

How do I find my coordinates?

Google Maps on a computer

  1. Right-click the spot where you'll be observing.
  2. The first line of the menu is the coordinates, e.g. 51.50722, -0.12758 — click it and they're copied.
  3. Paste them above.

Google Maps on a phone

  1. Press and hold the spot to drop a pin.
  2. The coordinates appear in the search bar (or on the pin's card) — tap to copy, then paste above.

A full Google Maps link works too, but the short maps.app.goo.gl share links don't carry coordinates — copy the numbers instead. We round to about a kilometre; that's all the sky calculation needs.

Know your what3words address? Paste it, e.g. ///filled.count.soap. This is optional — the three words are sent to what3words to convert them, and we don't store the address or the result.

Your location stays in your browser and is sent only for this calculation. Using a what3words address is optional; if you do, the three words go to what3words to be converted and we don't record them. Set a location first, then you can save an email alert for this object. See our privacy policy.

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
0.916 AU
Eccentricity
0.3002
Inclination
11.64°
Orbital period
320.5 days
Perihelion
0.641 AU
Aphelion
1.192 AU
Longitude of ascending node
327.95°
Argument of periapsis
290.96°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 11.3 LD
0.029 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.462

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
260
Data arc
16.09 years
First observed
19 November 2006
Last observed
22 December 2022
Residual RMS
0.47 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
25 October 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
19.69

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
CSS
Discovery date
19 November 2006
Discovery site
Catalina

Also known as 2006 WX1

Aten Near-Earth Object Potentially Hazardous Asteroid

Close approaches 75 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 378160 at 2029-02-04 15:38 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2029-02-04 15:38 UTC close approach of 378160. Catalogue miss distance 62.6 LD · 2.41 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2029-02-01 to 2029-02-07, 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. Sun 62.6 LD · 2.41 × 10⁷ km 2029-02-04 15:38 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2029-02-04 15:38 UTC close approach of 378160. Catalogue miss distance 62.6 LD · 2.41 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2029-02-01 to 2029-02-07, 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.

JPL Horizons

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2028-04-19 06:43:00 Venus 0.1455 AU 56.6 LD 9.9 km/s
2029-02-04 15:38:00 Earth 0.1608 AU 62.6 LD 15.3 km/s
2034-09-24 02:51:00 Earth 0.1667 AU 64.9 LD 9.1 km/s
2036-02-08 23:53:00 Earth 0.063 AU 24.5 LD 12.4 km/s
2041-10-01 19:19:00 Earth 0.1475 AU 57.4 LD 10.5 km/s
2043-02-10 16:15:00 Earth 0.0325 AU 12.7 LD 10.5 km/s
2045-02-26 00:09:00 Venus 0.0757 AU 29.4 LD 14.8 km/s
2048-10-08 05:55:00 Earth 0.1722 AU 67.0 LD 13 km/s
2050-02-10 01:03:00 Earth 0.1237 AU 48.2 LD 8.2 km/s
2051-04-17 18:56:00 Venus 0.013 AU 5.0 LD 12.1 km/s

Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.

Sources