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Asteroid Near-Earth

2021 OD1

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(2021 OD1)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.057 AU
True anomaly
173.1°
Distance from Earth
1.706 AU
As of
19 October 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 — 0.996 AU from the Sun Earth 2021 OD1 — 1.057 AU from the Sun 2021 OD1
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2021 OD1 is 1.706 AU from Earth today (14.2 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 00m 14s
Declination
-16° 34′ 09″
Constellation
Libra
Distance from Earth
1.71 AU
Elongation from the Sun
34.94° — 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.

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
0.835 AU
Eccentricity
0.27
Inclination
11.36°
Orbital period
278.6 days
Perihelion
0.609 AU
Aphelion
1.06 AU
Longitude of ascending node
127.8°
Argument of periapsis
332.41°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 0.6 LD
0.0015 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.99

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 5).

Observations used
29
Data arc
24 hours
First observed
30 July 2021
Last observed
31 July 2021
Residual RMS
0.33 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
31 July 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
28.27

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 61 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2021 OD1 at 2027-06-10 11:52 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-06-10 11:52 UTC close approach of 2021 OD1. Catalogue miss distance 164.3 LD · 6.32 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-06-07 to 2027-06-13, 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 north of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. Sun 164.3 LD · 6.32 × 10⁷ km 2027-06-10 11:52 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-06-10 11:52 UTC close approach of 2021 OD1. Catalogue miss distance 164.3 LD · 6.32 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-06-07 to 2027-06-13, 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 north of the ecliptic. 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
2027-06-10 11:52:00 Earth 0.4222 AU 164.3 LD 17.4 km/s
2027-12-08 00:38:00 Earth 0.3832 AU 149.1 LD 12.9 km/s
2031-01-13 08:20:00 Earth 0.3733 AU 145.3 LD 14.2 km/s
2031-07-22 23:20:00 Earth 0.4935 AU 192.1 LD 21.6 km/s
2034-02-19 11:33:00 Earth 0.3337 AU 129.9 LD 11.9 km/s
2034-08-01 19:25:00 Earth 0.2066 AU 80.4 LD 13 km/s
2037-07-23 09:54:00 Earth 0.0636 AU 24.7 LD 6.9 km/s
2038-09-19 23:02:00 Venus 0.0511 AU 19.9 LD 9.8 km/s
2040-06-06 06:11:00 Earth 0.248 AU 96.5 LD 10.9 km/s
2040-11-06 15:05:00 Earth 0.3573 AU 139.1 LD 9.2 km/s

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

Sources