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Asteroid Near-Earth

2016 BU

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(2016 BU)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.728 AU
True anomaly
75.25°
Distance from Earth
0.403 AU
As of
18 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 — 0.996 AU from the Sun Earth 2016 BU — 0.728 AU from the Sun 2016 BU
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2016 BU is 0.403 AU from Earth today (3.4 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 10m 47s
Declination
-05° 41′ 02″
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Distance from Earth
0.4 AU
Elongation from the Sun
38.99° — 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.

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
0.815 AU
Eccentricity
0.2309
Inclination
9.03°
Orbital period
268.6 days
Perihelion
0.627 AU
Aphelion
1.003 AU
Longitude of ascending node
300.32°
Argument of periapsis
351.38°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 5.7 LD
0.0146 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
7.147

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).

Observations used
28
Data arc
12 days
First observed
18 January 2016
Last observed
30 January 2016
Residual RMS
0.5 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
26.7

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 57 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2016 BU at 2026-12-24 04:50 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2026-12-24 04:50 UTC close approach of 2016 BU. Catalogue miss distance 49.7 LD · 1.91 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2026-12-21 to 2026-12-27, 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. At closest approach the object is north of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. Sun 49.7 LD · 1.91 × 10⁷ km 2026-12-24 04:50 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2026-12-24 04:50 UTC close approach of 2016 BU. Catalogue miss distance 49.7 LD · 1.91 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2026-12-21 to 2026-12-27, 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. At closest approach the object is north 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
2026-12-24 04:50:00 Earth 0.1277 AU 49.7 LD 8.2 km/s
2030-02-04 11:13:00 Earth 0.1219 AU 47.5 LD 9.1 km/s
2033-01-29 05:29:00 Earth 0.4535 AU 176.5 LD 19.9 km/s
2037-12-22 07:46:00 Earth 0.3202 AU 124.6 LD 14.9 km/s
2044-02-05 03:49:00 Earth 0.2204 AU 85.8 LD 12.2 km/s
2051-12-21 16:23:00 Earth 0.2636 AU 102.6 LD 12.9 km/s
2058-02-03 15:13:00 Earth 0.2571 AU 100.0 LD 13.4 km/s
2065-12-20 23:31:00 Earth 0.2627 AU 102.2 LD 12.9 km/s
2072-02-04 11:16:00 Earth 0.2272 AU 88.4 LD 12.4 km/s
2077-07-02 06:51:00 Earth 0.3867 AU 150.5 LD 13.3 km/s

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

Sources