2021 GL16 is an asteroid in the Aten orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.8 AU to 1.18 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 359.8 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 1 May 2021.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 0.873 AU
- True anomaly
- 299.79°
- Distance from Earth
- 0.159 AU
- As of
- 2 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 08m 29s
- Declination
- -15° 35′ 08″
- Constellation
- Ophiuchus
- Distance from Earth
- 0.16 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 37.01° — 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
- 0.99 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.1889
- Inclination
- 4.72°
- Orbital period
- 359.8 days
- Perihelion
- 0.803 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.177 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 18.65°
- Argument of periapsis
- 75.56°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · ATE
- Aten
- Earth MOID · 0.1 LD
- 0.0002 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 6.11
Orbit quality
Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 6).
- Observations used
- 17
- Data arc
- 19 days
- First observed
- 11 April 2021
- Last observed
- 30 April 2021
- Residual RMS
- 0.26 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 1 May 2021
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 26.28
Discovery & classification
Listed by JPL impact monitoring; see the Sentry table for current probabilities.
Close approaches 72 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2026-11-03 12:42 UTC close approach of 2021 GL16. Catalogue miss distance 57.6 LD · 2.22 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2026-10-31 to 2026-11-06, 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.
| When (UTC) | Body | Distance | Lunar distances | Relative speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-11-03 12:42:00 | Earth | 0.1481 AU | 57.6 LD | 4.8 km/s |
| 2027-09-27 23:10:00 | Earth | 0.0864 AU | 33.6 LD | 3.9 km/s |
| 2028-09-15 10:36:00 | Earth | 0.0392 AU | 15.3 LD | 5.9 km/s |
| 2029-09-10 03:11:00 | Earth | 0.1086 AU | 42.3 LD | 8.5 km/s |
| 2030-09-05 07:05:00 | Earth | 0.2026 AU | 78.8 LD | 11.3 km/s |
| 2031-08-31 14:50:00 | Earth | 0.3 AU | 116.8 LD | 14.2 km/s |
| 2032-08-26 03:38:00 | Earth | 0.3973 AU | 154.6 LD | 17.1 km/s |
| 2033-08-21 18:14:00 | Earth | 0.4938 AU | 192.2 LD | 20 km/s |
| 2080-04-28 21:29:00 | Earth | 0.4767 AU | 185.5 LD | 19.6 km/s |
| 2081-04-24 20:52:00 | Earth | 0.3857 AU | 150.1 LD | 16.9 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