2021 PV is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.63 AU to 1.42 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 378.9 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 11 June 2023.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.005 AU
- True anomaly
- 250.28°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.142 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 32m 56s
- Declination
- -26° 14′ 04″
- Constellation
- Sagittarius
- Distance from Earth
- 1.14 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 55.46° — 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
- 1.025 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.381
- Inclination
- 16.1°
- Orbital period
- 378.9 days
- Perihelion
- 0.634 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.415 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 140.21°
- Argument of periapsis
- 301.56°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 17.4 LD
- 0.0447 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.866
Orbit quality
Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).
- Observations used
- 34
- Data arc
- 13 days
- First observed
- 3 August 2021
- Last observed
- 16 August 2021
- Residual RMS
- 0.38 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 11 June 2023
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 24.75
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 93 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-02-19 14:31 UTC close approach of 2021 PV. Catalogue miss distance 89.7 LD · 3.45 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-02-16 to 2027-02-22, 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.
| When (UTC) | Body | Distance | Lunar distances | Relative speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2027-02-19 14:31:00 | Earth | 0.2306 AU | 89.7 LD | 12.6 km/s |
| 2028-03-17 17:32:00 | Earth | 0.1864 AU | 72.5 LD | 14.9 km/s |
| 2029-04-03 01:18:00 | Earth | 0.3242 AU | 126.2 LD | 20.5 km/s |
| 2031-01-28 21:33:00 | Venus | 0.135 AU | 52.6 LD | 14.7 km/s |
| 2047-08-07 06:04:00 | Earth | 0.3919 AU | 152.5 LD | 24.1 km/s |
| 2048-08-15 09:16:00 | Earth | 0.1755 AU | 68.3 LD | 17.9 km/s |
| 2049-08-21 11:07:00 | Earth | 0.0689 AU | 26.8 LD | 12.3 km/s |
| 2070-09-07 21:11:00 | Venus | 0.0425 AU | 16.5 LD | 15.2 km/s |
| 2074-08-03 07:06:00 | Earth | 0.482 AU | 187.6 LD | 26.7 km/s |
| 2075-08-13 03:45:00 | Earth | 0.2582 AU | 100.5 LD | 20.2 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