Asteroid Near-Earth

1996 XZ12

(1996 XZ12)

1996 XZ12 is an asteroid in the Aten orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.5 AU to 1.46 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 352.4 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 14 April 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun: 0.952 AU
True anomaly: 116.99°
Distance from Earth: 0.559 AU
As of: 24 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.

Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 1996 XZ12 is 0.559 AU from Earth today (4.7 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension: 09h 39m 32s
Declination: +15° 11′ 31″
Constellation: Leo
Distance from Earth: 0.56 AU
Elongation from the Sun: 69.57° — 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.

Paste a location

How do I find my coordinates?

Google Maps on a computer

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

Google Maps on a phone

Press and hold the spot to drop a pin.
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: 0.976 AU
Eccentricity: 0.4927
Inclination: 5.56°
Orbital period: 352.4 days
Perihelion: 0.495 AU
Aphelion: 1.457 AU
Longitude of ascending node: 251.74°
Argument of periapsis: 55.85°
Epoch · J2000: 2450427.5
Orbit class · ATE: Aten
Earth MOID · 2.3 LD: 0.0059 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter): 6.08

Orbit quality

Orbit very uncertain — the object may be effectively lost (uncertainty code 9).

Observations used: 11
Data arc: 3 days
First observed: 8 December 1996
Last observed: 11 December 1996
Residual RMS: 0.99 ″
Solution · Otto Matic: 14 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H): 25.4

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 6 on record

Flyby geometry

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2031-05-24 01:16 UTC close approach of 1996 XZ12. Catalogue miss distance 155.6 LD · 5.98 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2031-05-21 to 2031-05-27, 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
2031-05-24 01:16:00	Earth	0.3998 AU	155.6 LD	13 km/s
2032-03-27 17:32:00	Earth	0.22 AU	85.6 LD	10.4 km/s

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

Sources

visual properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
orbital elements: JPL SBDB