2023 RA16 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.76 AU to 1.26 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 369.1 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 14 September 2025.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.011 AU
- True anomaly
- 254.75°
- Distance from Earth
- 0.454 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
- 20h 49m 53s
- Declination
- -56° 40′ 19″
- Constellation
- Indus
- Distance from Earth
- 0.45 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 79.13° — well clear of the Sun
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
- 1.007 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.2488
- Inclination
- 28.46°
- Orbital period
- 369.1 days
- Perihelion
- 0.756 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.258 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 168.78°
- Argument of periapsis
- 319.97°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 56.8 LD
- 0.146 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.916
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).
- Observations used
- 28
- Data arc
- 3.04 years
- First observed
- 31 August 2022
- Last observed
- 13 September 2025
- Residual RMS
- 0.75 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 14 September 2025
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 24.42
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 37 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2033-03-12 16:32 UTC close approach of 2023 RA16. Catalogue miss distance 75.8 LD · 2.91 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2033-03-09 to 2033-03-15, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2033-03-12 16:32:00 | Earth | 0.1947 AU | 75.8 LD | 17.7 km/s |
| 2033-03-14 11:00:00 | Venus | 0.1196 AU | 46.5 LD | 17.7 km/s |
| 2034-03-18 22:12:00 | Earth | 0.1965 AU | 76.5 LD | 18 km/s |
| 2047-05-08 21:07:00 | Venus | 0.1 AU | 38.9 LD | 17.9 km/s |
| 2061-07-02 05:02:00 | Venus | 0.091 AU | 35.4 LD | 18.1 km/s |
| 2075-08-25 22:14:00 | Venus | 0.1074 AU | 41.8 LD | 17.8 km/s |
| 2089-10-18 14:00:00 | Venus | 0.1413 AU | 55.0 LD | 17.6 km/s |
| 2116-09-20 15:47:00 | Earth | 0.1897 AU | 73.8 LD | 16.3 km/s |
| 2117-09-20 09:37:00 | Earth | 0.1614 AU | 62.8 LD | 15.6 km/s |
| 2118-09-19 17:11:00 | Earth | 0.1476 AU | 57.5 LD | 15.1 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