2015 SO2 is an asteroid in the Aten orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.89 AU to 1.1 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 362 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 0.909 AU
- True anomaly
- 317.9°
- Distance from Earth
- 0.545 AU
- As of
- 2 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
- 10h 13m 55s
- Declination
- -04° 32′ 07″
- Constellation
- Sextans
- Distance from Earth
- 0.55 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 64.98° — well clear of the Sun
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.
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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
- 0.994 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.1088
- Inclination
- 9.17°
- Orbital period
- 362 days
- Perihelion
- 0.886 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.102 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 182.7°
- Argument of periapsis
- 291.88°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · ATE
- Aten
- Earth MOID · 6.9 LD
- 0.0178 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 6.092
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).
- Observations used
- 101
- Data arc
- 2.95 years
- First observed
- 21 September 2015
- Last observed
- 4 September 2018
- Residual RMS
- 0.45 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 15 April 2021
Physical properties
- Rotation period
- 0.58 hours
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 23.9
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 66 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2117-05-12 11:10 UTC close approach of 2015 SO2. Catalogue miss distance 179.0 LD · 6.88 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2117-05-09 to 2117-05-15, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2117-05-12 11:10:00 | Earth | 0.4599 AU | 179.0 LD | 16.8 km/s |
| 2118-05-09 08:59:00 | Earth | 0.4081 AU | 158.8 LD | 15.3 km/s |
| 2119-05-06 03:19:00 | Earth | 0.3568 AU | 138.8 LD | 13.8 km/s |
| 2120-05-01 23:25:00 | Earth | 0.3064 AU | 119.2 LD | 12.4 km/s |
| 2121-04-28 17:26:00 | Earth | 0.2573 AU | 100.1 LD | 11.1 km/s |
| 2122-04-25 05:24:00 | Earth | 0.2107 AU | 82.0 LD | 9.8 km/s |
| 2123-04-21 12:42:00 | Earth | 0.1673 AU | 65.1 LD | 8.7 km/s |
| 2124-04-16 19:22:00 | Earth | 0.128 AU | 49.8 LD | 7.7 km/s |
| 2125-04-13 02:08:00 | Earth | 0.0946 AU | 36.8 LD | 6.9 km/s |
| 2126-04-09 11:54:00 | Earth | 0.0696 AU | 27.1 LD | 6.3 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)
- orbital elements: JPL SBDB