2021 WA1 is an asteroid in the Aten orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.56 AU to 1.43 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 361.4 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 4 January 2022.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 0.94 AU
- True anomaly
- 109.35°
- Distance from Earth
- 0.309 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
- 10h 01m 18s
- Declination
- +11° 01′ 58″
- Constellation
- Leo
- Distance from Earth
- 0.31 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 72.71° — well clear of the Sun
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
- 0.993 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.436
- Inclination
- 3.26°
- Orbital period
- 361.4 days
- Perihelion
- 0.56 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.426 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 65.21°
- Argument of periapsis
- 243.9°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · ATE
- Aten
- Earth MOID · 0.3 LD
- 0.0008 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 6.026
Orbit quality
Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 6).
- Observations used
- 74
- Data arc
- 7 days
- First observed
- 27 November 2021
- Last observed
- 4 December 2021
- Residual RMS
- 0.39 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 4 January 2022
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 27.7
Discovery & classification
Listed by JPL impact monitoring; see the Sentry table for current probabilities.
Close approaches 97 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2026-12-14 02:49 UTC close approach of 2021 WA1. Catalogue miss distance 111.9 LD · 4.3 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2026-12-11 to 2026-12-17, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-12 21:47:00 | Earth | 0.3205 AU | 124.7 LD | 9.2 km/s |
| 2026-12-14 02:49:00 | Earth | 0.2875 AU | 111.9 LD | 9.4 km/s |
| 2027-09-30 12:34:00 | Earth | 0.3571 AU | 139.0 LD | 11.6 km/s |
| 2027-12-21 13:29:00 | Earth | 0.3265 AU | 127.1 LD | 9.9 km/s |
| 2028-09-19 22:49:00 | Earth | 0.3847 AU | 149.7 LD | 13.4 km/s |
| 2028-12-27 02:20:00 | Earth | 0.3584 AU | 139.5 LD | 10.3 km/s |
| 2029-09-11 11:41:00 | Earth | 0.4064 AU | 158.2 LD | 14.8 km/s |
| 2030-01-02 05:55:00 | Earth | 0.3846 AU | 149.7 LD | 10.7 km/s |
| 2030-09-03 15:45:00 | Earth | 0.4235 AU | 164.8 LD | 16 km/s |
| 2031-01-07 22:28:00 | Earth | 0.4056 AU | 157.8 LD | 11 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