2016 RG20 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.75 AU to 1.29 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 377.4 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.285 AU
- True anomaly
- 170.98°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.641 AU
- As of
- 3 November 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.
In the sky
- Right ascension
- 18h 12m 15s
- Declination
- -16° 26′ 28″
- Constellation
- Sagittarius
- Distance from Earth
- 1.64 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 51.39° — 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.
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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
- 1.022 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.2628
- Inclination
- 17.18°
- Orbital period
- 377.4 days
- Perihelion
- 0.753 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.291 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 160.89°
- Argument of periapsis
- 337°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 78.9 LD
- 0.2026 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.909
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 2).
- Observations used
- 26
- Data arc
- 372 days
- First observed
- 8 September 2016
- Last observed
- 15 September 2017
- Residual RMS
- 0.6 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 15 April 2021
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 23.6
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 142 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2044-10-05 16:20 UTC close approach of 2016 RG20. Catalogue miss distance 178.8 LD · 6.87 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2044-10-02 to 2044-10-08, 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.
| When (UTC) | Body | Distance | Lunar distances | Relative speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2029-07-05 04:00:00 | Venus | 0.0849 AU | 33.0 LD | 12.9 km/s |
| 2044-10-05 16:20:00 | Earth | 0.4594 AU | 178.8 LD | 20.1 km/s |
| 2045-10-10 03:01:00 | Earth | 0.2999 AU | 116.7 LD | 14.5 km/s |
| 2046-10-04 16:56:00 | Earth | 0.2094 AU | 81.5 LD | 10.7 km/s |
| 2047-09-19 01:46:00 | Earth | 0.2194 AU | 85.4 LD | 10 km/s |
| 2048-01-09 21:18:00 | Earth | 0.2961 AU | 115.2 LD | 11.3 km/s |
| 2048-09-01 01:36:00 | Earth | 0.2669 AU | 103.9 LD | 10.2 km/s |
| 2049-02-10 11:39:00 | Earth | 0.2506 AU | 97.5 LD | 12.9 km/s |
| 2049-08-14 11:40:00 | Earth | 0.3102 AU | 120.7 LD | 10.1 km/s |
| 2050-03-10 23:18:00 | Earth | 0.2189 AU | 85.2 LD | 12.7 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