2021 XV is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.7 AU to 1.36 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 381.2 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 3 December 2021.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 0.822 AU
- True anomaly
- 292.84°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.717 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
- 15h 49m 03s
- Declination
- -19° 17′ 15″
- Constellation
- Libra
- Distance from Earth
- 1.71 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 17.16° — too close to the Sun to observe
Favours the southern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far north.
From your location
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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
- 1.029 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.3196
- Inclination
- 7.14°
- Orbital period
- 381.2 days
- Perihelion
- 0.7 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.358 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 247.95°
- Argument of periapsis
- 78.4°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 0.1 LD
- 0.0003 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.893
Orbit quality
Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).
- Observations used
- 12
- Data arc
- 24 hours
- First observed
- 2 December 2021
- Last observed
- 3 December 2021
- Residual RMS
- 0.48 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 3 December 2021
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 30.1
Discovery & classification
Listed by JPL impact monitoring; see the Sentry table for current probabilities.
Close approaches 37 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2039-04-17 21:38 UTC close approach of 2021 XV. Catalogue miss distance 147.5 LD · 5.67 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2039-04-14 to 2039-04-20, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2035-03-21 18:44:00 | Venus | 0.0902 AU | 35.1 LD | 12.4 km/s |
| 2039-04-17 21:38:00 | Earth | 0.379 AU | 147.5 LD | 21.7 km/s |
| 2040-04-29 05:50:00 | Earth | 0.1233 AU | 48.0 LD | 13.8 km/s |
| 2045-11-30 11:59:00 | Earth | 0.0066 AU | 2.6 LD | 10.9 km/s |
| 2045-11-30 12:23:00 | Moon | 0.009 AU | 3.5 LD | 11.9 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