2016 SP2 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.83 AU to 1.21 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 376 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.207 AU
- True anomaly
- 187.99°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.516 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 16m 06s
- Declination
- -15° 23′ 46″
- Constellation
- Serpens
- Distance from Earth
- 1.52 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 52.53° — 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
- 1.02 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.1865
- Inclination
- 13.15°
- Orbital period
- 376 days
- Perihelion
- 0.829 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.21 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 184.56°
- Argument of periapsis
- 301.48°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 27.0 LD
- 0.0693 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.951
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 2).
- Observations used
- 44
- Data arc
- 363 days
- First observed
- 25 September 2016
- Last observed
- 23 September 2017
- Residual RMS
- 0.37 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 15 April 2021
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 24.1
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 98 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2049-10-02 19:34 UTC close approach of 2016 SP2. Catalogue miss distance 159.4 LD · 6.13 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2049-09-29 to 2049-10-05, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2049-10-02 19:34:00 | Earth | 0.4096 AU | 159.4 LD | 18.2 km/s |
| 2050-10-08 14:36:00 | Earth | 0.2387 AU | 92.9 LD | 13.3 km/s |
| 2051-10-10 12:27:00 | Earth | 0.0891 AU | 34.7 LD | 9.2 km/s |
| 2052-09-29 13:00:00 | Earth | 0.1237 AU | 48.1 LD | 7.3 km/s |
| 2053-09-04 13:21:00 | Earth | 0.2333 AU | 90.8 LD | 7.2 km/s |
| 2054-02-15 18:04:00 | Earth | 0.2128 AU | 82.8 LD | 7.9 km/s |
| 2054-07-29 23:13:00 | Earth | 0.2986 AU | 116.2 LD | 6.1 km/s |
| 2055-03-25 05:06:00 | Earth | 0.1128 AU | 43.9 LD | 8.1 km/s |
| 2056-04-17 04:14:00 | Earth | 0.1222 AU | 47.6 LD | 10 km/s |
| 2057-05-02 16:57:00 | Earth | 0.2689 AU | 104.6 LD | 13.9 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