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Asteroid Near-Earth

2011 TO

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(2011 TO)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.834 AU
True anomaly
85.06°
Distance from Earth
0.933 AU
As of
21 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.

Sun Earth — 0.995 AU from the Sun Earth 2011 TO — 0.834 AU from the Sun 2011 TO
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2011 TO is 0.933 AU from Earth today (7.8 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
17h 18m 36s
Declination
-21° 54′ 00″
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Distance from Earth
0.93 AU
Elongation from the Sun
51.41° — 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.

How do I find my coordinates?

Google Maps on a computer

  1. Right-click the spot where you'll be observing.
  2. The first line of the menu is the coordinates, e.g. 51.50722, -0.12758 — click it and they're copied.
  3. Paste them above.

Google Maps on a phone

  1. Press and hold the spot to drop a pin.
  2. The coordinates appear in the search bar (or on the pin's card) — tap to copy, then paste above.

A full Google Maps link works too, but the short maps.app.goo.gl share links don't carry coordinates — copy the numbers instead. We round to about a kilometre; that's all the sky calculation needs.

Know your what3words address? Paste it, e.g. ///filled.count.soap. This is optional — the three words are sent to what3words to convert them, and we don't store the address or the result.

Your location stays in your browser and is sent only for this calculation. Using a what3words address is optional; if you do, the three words go to what3words to be converted and we don't record them. Set a location first, then you can save an email alert for this object. See our privacy policy.

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
0.927 AU
Eccentricity
0.2799
Inclination
2.24°
Orbital period
325.8 days
Perihelion
0.667 AU
Aphelion
1.186 AU
Longitude of ascending node
185.11°
Argument of periapsis
57.61°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 0.1 LD
0.0003 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.425

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 4).

Observations used
44
Data arc
469 days
First observed
1 October 2011
Last observed
12 January 2013
Residual RMS
0.39 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
28 October 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
26.58

Discovery & classification

Listed by JPL impact monitoring; see the Sentry table for current probabilities.

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 66 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2011 TO at 2027-10-06 21:39 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-10-06 21:39 UTC close approach of 2011 TO. Catalogue miss distance 112.4 LD · 4.32 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-10-03 to 2027-10-09, 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. Sun 112.4 LD · 4.32 × 10⁷ km 2027-10-06 21:39 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-10-06 21:39 UTC close approach of 2011 TO. Catalogue miss distance 112.4 LD · 4.32 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-10-03 to 2027-10-09, 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.

JPL Horizons

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2027-10-06 21:39:00 Earth 0.2888 AU 112.4 LD 17.4 km/s
2028-07-14 15:01:00 Earth 0.2988 AU 116.3 LD 9 km/s
2028-11-24 01:20:00 Earth 0.2023 AU 78.7 LD 7 km/s
2029-04-12 11:01:00 Earth 0.3021 AU 117.6 LD 9.6 km/s
2030-01-16 20:56:00 Earth 0.2777 AU 108.1 LD 17.1 km/s
2030-03-09 21:50:00 Venus 0.0355 AU 13.8 LD 7.2 km/s
2035-10-14 06:00:00 Earth 0.4702 AU 183.0 LD 23.1 km/s
2036-10-20 19:54:00 Earth 0.1519 AU 59.1 LD 6.2 km/s
2037-05-09 12:45:00 Earth 0.3393 AU 132.0 LD 11.5 km/s
2038-01-23 14:15:00 Earth 0.0929 AU 36.1 LD 11.2 km/s

Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.

Sources