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Asteroid Near-Earth

2021 AA

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(2021 AA)

2021 AA is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.41 AU to 1.62 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 373.5 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 28 April 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.977 AU
True anomaly
236.63°
Distance from Earth
1.93 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.

Sun Earth — 0.992 AU from the Sun Earth 2021 AA — 0.977 AU from the Sun 2021 AA
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2021 AA is 1.93 AU from Earth today (16.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
14h 40m 35s
Declination
-04° 07′ 42″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
1.93 AU
Elongation from the Sun
11.26° — too close to the Sun to observe

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
1.015 AU
Eccentricity
0.5923
Inclination
24.12°
Orbital period
373.5 days
Perihelion
0.414 AU
Aphelion
1.616 AU
Longitude of ascending node
100.99°
Argument of periapsis
236.18°
Epoch · J2000
2459217.5
Orbit class · APO
Apollo
Earth MOID · 0.1 LD
0.0002 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
5.776

Orbit quality

Orbit very uncertain — the object may be effectively lost (uncertainty code 8).

Observations used
25
Data arc
24 hours
First observed
2 January 2021
Last observed
3 January 2021
Residual RMS
0.31 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
28 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
26.98

Discovery & classification

Apollo Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 17 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2021 AA at 2114-01-17 08:56 UTC Sun 140.8 LD · 5.41 × 10⁷ km 2114-01-17 08:56 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2114-01-17 08:56 UTC close approach of 2021 AA. Catalogue miss distance 140.8 LD · 5.41 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2114-01-14 to 2114-01-20, 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. 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
2114-01-17 08:56:00 Earth 0.3617 AU 140.8 LD 32.7 km/s

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

Sources