2021 BZ2 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.9 AU to 1.18 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 386.1 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 0.949 AU
- True anomaly
- 56.98°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.293 AU
- As of
- 4 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
- 17h 56m 56s
- Declination
- -22° 04′ 04″
- Constellation
- Sagittarius
- Distance from Earth
- 1.29 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 46.86° — 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
- 1.038 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.1344
- Inclination
- 13.99°
- Orbital period
- 386.1 days
- Perihelion
- 0.898 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.177 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 311.42°
- Argument of periapsis
- 310.62°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 27.9 LD
- 0.0717 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.873
Orbit quality
Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 5).
- Observations used
- 51
- Data arc
- 44 days
- First observed
- 18 January 2021
- Last observed
- 3 March 2021
- Residual RMS
- 0.27 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 15 April 2021
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 23.8
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 74 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2039-02-23 02:15 UTC close approach of 2021 BZ2. Catalogue miss distance 77.1 LD · 2.96 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2039-02-20 to 2039-02-26, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2039-02-23 02:15:00 | Earth | 0.1982 AU | 77.1 LD | 10.9 km/s |
| 2040-01-29 10:02:00 | Earth | 0.1669 AU | 64.9 LD | 7.8 km/s |
| 2040-07-09 14:54:00 | Earth | 0.1744 AU | 67.9 LD | 8.1 km/s |
| 2040-11-30 00:18:00 | Earth | 0.3024 AU | 117.7 LD | 5.9 km/s |
| 2041-08-28 04:01:00 | Earth | 0.1624 AU | 63.2 LD | 10.8 km/s |
| 2042-09-21 09:17:00 | Earth | 0.4882 AU | 190.0 LD | 19.5 km/s |
| 2057-02-22 00:18:00 | Earth | 0.3786 AU | 147.3 LD | 16 km/s |
| 2058-02-17 06:54:00 | Earth | 0.1199 AU | 46.7 LD | 8.6 km/s |
| 2059-01-11 02:06:00 | Earth | 0.2343 AU | 91.2 LD | 7.8 km/s |
| 2059-08-04 17:33:00 | Earth | 0.0846 AU | 32.9 LD | 8.2 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