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Asteroid Near-Earth

2016 DB

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(2016 DB)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.645 AU
True anomaly
316.59°
Distance from Earth
0.78 AU
As of
20 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 — 0.996 AU from the Sun Earth 2016 DB — 0.645 AU from the Sun 2016 DB
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2016 DB is 0.78 AU from Earth today (6.5 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 25m 08s
Declination
-22° 06′ 54″
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Distance from Earth
0.77 AU
Elongation from the Sun
40.24° — 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
0.892 AU
Eccentricity
0.3246
Inclination
2.89°
Orbital period
307.5 days
Perihelion
0.602 AU
Aphelion
1.181 AU
Longitude of ascending node
145.96°
Argument of periapsis
233.26°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 0.1 LD
0.0004 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.618

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 5).

Observations used
35
Data arc
24 hours
First observed
16 February 2016
Last observed
17 February 2016
Residual RMS
0.54 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
28.5

Discovery & classification

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

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 123 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2016 DB at 2026-12-08 15:04 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2026-12-08 15:04 UTC close approach of 2016 DB. Catalogue miss distance 122.7 LD · 4.72 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2026-12-05 to 2026-12-11, 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 122.7 LD · 4.72 × 10⁷ km 2026-12-08 15:04 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2026-12-08 15:04 UTC close approach of 2016 DB. Catalogue miss distance 122.7 LD · 4.72 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2026-12-05 to 2026-12-11, 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
2026-12-08 15:04:00 Earth 0.3153 AU 122.7 LD 9.2 km/s
2027-04-08 04:56:00 Earth 0.1849 AU 72.0 LD 7.3 km/s
2027-08-04 22:22:00 Earth 0.3118 AU 121.3 LD 8.6 km/s
2030-12-19 15:29:00 Venus 0.0608 AU 23.7 LD 12.5 km/s
2032-02-15 23:21:00 Earth 0.0315 AU 12.3 LD 8.2 km/s
2032-09-15 19:04:00 Earth 0.3884 AU 151.2 LD 13.6 km/s
2033-05-20 17:20:00 Earth 0.3194 AU 124.3 LD 18.8 km/s
2033-08-31 00:54:00 Venus 0.0559 AU 21.8 LD 8.8 km/s
2037-02-19 13:52:00 Earth 0.2173 AU 84.6 LD 15.8 km/s
2037-10-15 13:04:00 Earth 0.397 AU 154.5 LD 14.4 km/s

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

Sources