Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.115 AU
- True anomaly
- 200.65°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.678 AU
- As of
- 16 October 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
- 16h 09m 20s
- Declination
- -15° 25′ 37″
- Constellation
- Scorpius
- Distance from Earth
- 1.68 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 39.73° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn
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
- 0.793 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.4923
- Inclination
- 18.25°
- Orbital period
- 258.1 days
- Perihelion
- 0.403 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.184 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 124.58°
- Argument of periapsis
- 311.63°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · ATE
- Aten
- Earth MOID · 25.7 LD
- 0.066 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 7.204
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).
- Observations used
- 647
- Data arc
- 21.89 years
- First observed
- 9 July 2003
- Last observed
- 30 May 2025
- Residual RMS
- 0.36 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 31 May 2025
Physical properties
- Mean radius
- 0.19 km
- Rotation period
- 13.53 hours
Visual & observation
- Geometric albedo
- 0.334
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 19.02
Discovery & classification
- Discovered by
- LINEAR
- Discovery date
- 9 July 2003
- Discovery site
- Socorro
Also known as 2003 NZ6
Close approaches 63 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-07-17 19:14 UTC close approach of 242191. Catalogue miss distance 55.3 LD · 2.12 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-07-14 to 2027-07-20, 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. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2027-07-17 19:14:00 | Earth | 0.142 AU | 55.3 LD | 12.5 km/s |
| 2029-10-07 06:19:00 | Venus | 0.069 AU | 26.9 LD | 22.5 km/s |
| 2031-05-15 09:49:00 | Venus | 0.1496 AU | 58.2 LD | 21.6 km/s |
| 2032-07-12 07:50:00 | Earth | 0.1831 AU | 71.3 LD | 20.1 km/s |
| 2034-09-12 07:35:00 | Venus | 0.1229 AU | 47.8 LD | 15.4 km/s |
| 2044-07-14 23:54:00 | Earth | 0.1158 AU | 45.1 LD | 17.9 km/s |
| 2048-11-03 15:52:00 | Venus | 0.0381 AU | 14.8 LD | 19.9 km/s |
| 2056-07-16 22:08:00 | Earth | 0.0712 AU | 27.7 LD | 16.1 km/s |
| 2062-12-24 20:11:00 | Venus | 0.1331 AU | 51.8 LD | 25.7 km/s |
| 2064-07-29 08:37:00 | Venus | 0.1482 AU | 57.7 LD | 18.8 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)
- physical properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- visual properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- orbital elements: JPL SBDB