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Asteroid Near-Earth

2012 SU9

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(2012 SU9)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.613 AU
True anomaly
333.07°
Distance from Earth
1.604 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 2012 SU9 — 0.613 AU from the Sun 2012 SU9
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2012 SU9 is 1.604 AU from Earth today (13.3 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
13h 38m 29s
Declination
-10° 24′ 40″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
1.6 AU
Elongation from the Sun
2.49° — too close to the Sun to observe

Visible from both hemispheres.

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
0.93 AU
Eccentricity
0.3599
Inclination
0.49°
Orbital period
327.3 days
Perihelion
0.595 AU
Aphelion
1.264 AU
Longitude of ascending node
323.34°
Argument of periapsis
264.36°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 1.6 LD
0.004 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.387

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).

Observations used
39
Data arc
5 days
First observed
19 September 2012
Last observed
24 September 2012
Residual RMS
0.34 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
27.2

Discovery & classification

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

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 40 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2012 SU9 at 2029-09-18 00:59 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2029-09-18 00:59 UTC close approach of 2012 SU9. Catalogue miss distance 61.6 LD · 2.37 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2029-09-15 to 2029-09-21, 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 61.6 LD · 2.37 × 10⁷ km 2029-09-18 00:59 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2029-09-18 00:59 UTC close approach of 2012 SU9. Catalogue miss distance 61.6 LD · 2.37 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2029-09-15 to 2029-09-21, 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
2027-08-23 02:36:00 Venus 0.0444 AU 17.3 LD 11.9 km/s
2029-09-18 00:59:00 Earth 0.1583 AU 61.6 LD 15.7 km/s
2030-06-25 14:59:00 Earth 0.3691 AU 143.7 LD 12.2 km/s
2030-11-05 13:22:00 Earth 0.2717 AU 105.7 LD 8.8 km/s
2031-04-11 16:11:00 Earth 0.3903 AU 151.9 LD 14.1 km/s
2032-01-08 00:22:00 Earth 0.065 AU 25.3 LD 12.9 km/s
2035-11-17 00:33:00 Venus 0.0328 AU 12.8 LD 10.7 km/s
2038-09-17 13:44:00 Earth 0.1157 AU 45.0 LD 7.8 km/s
2040-12-27 00:07:00 Earth 0.3628 AU 141.2 LD 22.3 km/s
2046-09-20 03:26:00 Earth 0.2065 AU 80.4 LD 17.2 km/s

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

Sources