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Centaur

771309

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771309 (2016 FS151)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.308 AU
True anomaly
81.12°
Distance from Earth
5.717 AU
As of
11 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.

Orbit of Mercury Orbit of Venus Orbit of Mars Sun Earth — 0.998 AU from the Sun Earth 771309 — 5.308 AU from the Sun 771309
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 771309 is 5.717 AU from Earth today (47.5 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
09h 20m 21s
Declination
+16° 25′ 24″
Constellation
Cancer
Distance from Earth
5.71 AU
Elongation from the Sun
61.71° — well clear of the Sun

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

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
5.816 AU
Eccentricity
0.2336
Inclination
11.01°
Orbital period
14.03 years
Perihelion
4.458 AU
Aphelion
7.175 AU
Longitude of ascending node
312.48°
Argument of periapsis
94.11°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · CEN
Centaur
Earth MOID · 1,358.0 LD
3.4896 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.913

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
109
Data arc
15.32 years
First observed
2 September 2010
Last observed
28 December 2025
Residual RMS
0.57 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
14 March 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
14.99

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
DECam NEO Survey
Discovery date
28 March 2016
Discovery site
Cerro Tololo

Also known as 2016 FS151

Centaur

Close approaches 11 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2026-10-28 13:30:00 Juptr 0.3711 AU 144.4 LD 4.4 km/s
2026-10-28 13:30:00 Jupiter 0.3711 AU 144.4 LD 4.4 km/s
2061-09-11 19:06:00 Juptr 0.1456 AU 56.7 LD 4.4 km/s
2061-09-11 19:06:00 Jupiter 0.1456 AU 56.7 LD 4.4 km/s
2067-06-20 00:26:00 Juptr 0.8613 AU 335.2 LD 3.8 km/s
2144-06-15 11:49:00 Juptr 1.2598 AU 490.3 LD 5.5 km/s

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

Sources