Torifune is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.81 AU to 1.26 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 383 days. Discovered 3 February 2001 by LINEAR. Orbit from the JPL solution of 30 March 2026.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.138 AU
- True anomaly
- 128.6°
- Distance from Earth
- 0.367 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
- 22h 12m 20s
- Declination
- -23° 29′ 38″
- Constellation
- Aquarius
- Distance from Earth
- 0.37 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 104.09° — well clear of the Sun
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
- 1.032 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.2192
- Inclination
- 4.81°
- Orbital period
- 383 days
- Perihelion
- 0.806 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.258 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 75.36°
- Argument of periapsis
- 179.41°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 32.3 LD
- 0.083 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.907
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).
- Observations used
- 2,398
- Data arc
- 43.26 years
- First observed
- 10 November 1982
- Last observed
- 13 February 2026
- Residual RMS
- 0.35 ″
- Solution · Davide Farnocchia
- 30 March 2026
Physical properties
- Rotation period
- 5.02 hours
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 18.71
- Spectral type (SMASS)
- L
Discovery & classification
- Discovered by
- LINEAR
- Discovery date
- 3 February 2001
- Discovery site
- Socorro
Torifune (an abbreviation of Ame-no-torifune) is a god in Japanese mythology. It is also the name of the god's ship, which can travel safely at high speed like a bird and steady as a rock. The Hayabusa2 spacecraft will perform a flyby of this asteroid, and the name expresses the hope that Hayabusa2 will be able to safely conduct the high-speed encounter.
Also known as 98943 · 2001 CC21 · 1982 VE13
Close approaches 67 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2044-03-01 15:30 UTC close approach of Torifune. Catalogue miss distance 35.8 LD · 1.38 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2044-02-27 to 2044-03-04, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2044-03-01 15:30:00 | Earth | 0.0921 AU | 35.8 LD | 8.2 km/s |
| 2045-05-09 20:22:00 | Earth | 0.194 AU | 75.5 LD | 7.1 km/s |
| 2046-07-10 12:13:00 | Earth | 0.1934 AU | 75.3 LD | 7 km/s |
| 2047-06-25 13:13:00 | Venus | 0.1032 AU | 40.2 LD | 2.2 km/s |
| 2047-09-16 15:34:00 | Earth | 0.0961 AU | 37.4 LD | 8.4 km/s |
| 2065-02-24 06:36:00 | Earth | 0.1894 AU | 73.7 LD | 12.2 km/s |
| 2065-05-01 17:55:00 | Venus | 0.0842 AU | 32.8 LD | 2 km/s |
| 2066-02-16 06:51:00 | Earth | 0.1608 AU | 62.6 LD | 4.3 km/s |
| 2066-04-07 19:55:00 | Earth | 0.1518 AU | 59.1 LD | 5.3 km/s |
| 2068-09-10 06:43:00 | Earth | 0.1044 AU | 40.6 LD | 5.2 km/s |
Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.
Sources
- visual properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- physical properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- visual properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- orbital elements: JPL SBDB