2016 BQ is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.87 AU to 1.16 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 372.7 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 11 September 2021.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.103 AU
- True anomaly
- 135.23°
- Distance from Earth
- 0.747 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
- 20h 02m 02s
- Declination
- -17° 42′ 20″
- Constellation
- Sagittarius
- Distance from Earth
- 0.75 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 77.36° — well clear of the Sun
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
- 1.013 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.1403
- Inclination
- 2.26°
- Orbital period
- 372.7 days
- Perihelion
- 0.871 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.156 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 305.61°
- Argument of periapsis
- 279.19°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 3.1 LD
- 0.008 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 6.007
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).
- Observations used
- 49
- Data arc
- 5.65 years
- First observed
- 18 January 2016
- Last observed
- 11 September 2021
- Residual RMS
- 0.49 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 11 September 2021
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 26.54
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 92 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2064-01-19 03:59 UTC close approach of 2016 BQ. Catalogue miss distance 180.3 LD · 6.93 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2064-01-16 to 2064-01-22, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2064-01-19 03:59:00 | Earth | 0.4633 AU | 180.3 LD | 18.6 km/s |
| 2065-01-23 14:13:00 | Earth | 0.3383 AU | 131.6 LD | 14.8 km/s |
| 2066-01-29 03:39:00 | Earth | 0.2133 AU | 83.0 LD | 11 km/s |
| 2067-02-03 08:54:00 | Earth | 0.0895 AU | 34.8 LD | 7.3 km/s |
| 2068-02-07 16:23:00 | Earth | 0.0289 AU | 11.3 LD | 3.8 km/s |
| 2068-12-24 00:21:00 | Earth | 0.1348 AU | 52.5 LD | 3.7 km/s |
| 2069-04-07 12:59:00 | Earth | 0.1268 AU | 49.4 LD | 4 km/s |
| 2069-11-19 20:52:00 | Earth | 0.1692 AU | 65.9 LD | 4.4 km/s |
| 2070-05-21 03:22:00 | Earth | 0.1404 AU | 54.6 LD | 4.5 km/s |
| 2070-10-19 16:17:00 | Earth | 0.1623 AU | 63.2 LD | 4.1 km/s |
Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.
Sources
- visual properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- orbital elements: JPL SBDB