2021 QH2 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.72 AU to 1.29 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 367.8 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 20 December 2022.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 0.874 AU
- True anomaly
- 281.35°
- Distance from Earth
- 0.289 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 18m 49s
- Declination
- +02° 37′ 31″
- Constellation
- Ophiuchus
- Distance from Earth
- 0.29 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 57.95° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn
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.
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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
- 1.005 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.2851
- Inclination
- 10.32°
- Orbital period
- 367.8 days
- Perihelion
- 0.718 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.291 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 333.71°
- Argument of periapsis
- 132.63°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 27.1 LD
- 0.0696 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 6.008
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).
- Observations used
- 38
- Data arc
- 2.98 years
- First observed
- 6 September 2019
- Last observed
- 28 August 2022
- Residual RMS
- 0.53 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 20 December 2022
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 25.05
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 133 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2026-11-19 00:08 UTC close approach of 2021 QH2. Catalogue miss distance 104.3 LD · 4.01 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2026-11-16 to 2026-11-22, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-11-19 00:08:00 | Earth | 0.268 AU | 104.3 LD | 6.9 km/s |
| 2027-08-16 19:21:00 | Earth | 0.2359 AU | 91.8 LD | 7.6 km/s |
| 2027-11-30 13:38:00 | Earth | 0.2805 AU | 109.2 LD | 8.1 km/s |
| 2028-08-10 00:18:00 | Earth | 0.2557 AU | 99.5 LD | 7.8 km/s |
| 2028-12-09 04:33:00 | Earth | 0.288 AU | 112.1 LD | 9 km/s |
| 2029-08-04 06:55:00 | Earth | 0.2727 AU | 106.1 LD | 7.9 km/s |
| 2029-12-17 22:28:00 | Earth | 0.2918 AU | 113.6 LD | 9.6 km/s |
| 2030-07-29 18:04:00 | Earth | 0.2863 AU | 111.4 LD | 7.9 km/s |
| 2030-12-25 19:03:00 | Earth | 0.2925 AU | 113.8 LD | 10 km/s |
| 2031-07-24 08:33:00 | Earth | 0.2977 AU | 115.9 LD | 8 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