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Asteroid Near-Earth

2011 SM5

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(2011 SM5)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.799 AU
True anomaly
87.55°
Distance from Earth
1.562 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.

Sun Earth — 0.995 AU from the Sun Earth 2011 SM5 — 0.799 AU from the Sun 2011 SM5
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2011 SM5 is 1.562 AU from Earth today (13.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
15h 05m 44s
Declination
-30° 26′ 07″
Constellation
Lupus
Distance from Earth
1.56 AU
Elongation from the Sun
26.12° — 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
0.937 AU
Eccentricity
0.3655
Inclination
25.02°
Orbital period
331.1 days
Perihelion
0.594 AU
Aphelion
1.279 AU
Longitude of ascending node
352.41°
Argument of periapsis
184.89°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 100.3 LD
0.2578 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.271

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 2).

Observations used
33
Data arc
10.03 years
First observed
18 September 2011
Last observed
28 September 2021
Residual RMS
0.68 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
28 September 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
23.17

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 190 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2011 SM5 at 2029-08-17 04:59 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2029-08-17 04:59 UTC close approach of 2011 SM5. Catalogue miss distance 174.0 LD · 6.69 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2029-08-14 to 2029-08-20, 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 south of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. Sun 174.0 LD · 6.69 × 10⁷ km 2029-08-17 04:59 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2029-08-17 04:59 UTC close approach of 2011 SM5. Catalogue miss distance 174.0 LD · 6.69 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2029-08-14 to 2029-08-20, 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 south of the ecliptic. 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
2029-08-17 04:59:00 Earth 0.4471 AU 174.0 LD 21.4 km/s
2030-05-28 17:12:00 Earth 0.4609 AU 179.4 LD 13.2 km/s
2030-08-31 22:39:00 Earth 0.258 AU 100.4 LD 14 km/s
2031-03-23 07:04:00 Earth 0.4059 AU 157.9 LD 21.9 km/s
2031-10-04 09:15:00 Earth 0.3058 AU 119.0 LD 13.8 km/s
2032-01-24 02:46:00 Earth 0.4133 AU 160.8 LD 18.1 km/s
2032-10-28 23:25:00 Earth 0.4748 AU 184.8 LD 20 km/s
2039-08-16 22:17:00 Earth 0.3451 AU 134.3 LD 17.5 km/s
2040-05-02 19:49:00 Earth 0.4517 AU 175.8 LD 18.5 km/s
2040-09-10 02:41:00 Earth 0.2661 AU 103.6 LD 13.8 km/s

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

Sources