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Asteroid Near-Earth

2016 EO56

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(2016 EO56)

2016 EO56 is an asteroid in the Aten orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.35 AU to 1.63 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 359.5 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.376 AU
True anomaly
35.93°
Distance from Earth
0.773 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.

Sun Earth — 0.992 AU from the Sun Earth 2016 EO56 — 0.376 AU from the Sun 2016 EO56
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2016 EO56 is 0.773 AU from Earth today (6.4 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
13h 32m 48s
Declination
-30° 36′ 25″
Constellation
Centaurus
Distance from Earth
0.78 AU
Elongation from the Sun
20.95° — 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
0.989 AU
Eccentricity
0.648
Inclination
43.24°
Orbital period
359.5 days
Perihelion
0.348 AU
Aphelion
1.631 AU
Longitude of ascending node
163.1°
Argument of periapsis
222.67°
Epoch · J2000
2457452.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 25.1 LD
0.0644 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
5.743

Orbit quality

Orbit very uncertain — the object may be effectively lost (uncertainty code 9).

Observations used
25
Data arc
8 days
First observed
1 March 2016
Last observed
9 March 2016
Residual RMS
0.55 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
23

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 20 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2016 EO56 at 2135-03-15 05:12 UTC Sun 135.7 LD · 5.22 × 10⁷ km 2135-03-15 05:12 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2135-03-15 05:12 UTC close approach of 2016 EO56. Catalogue miss distance 135.7 LD · 5.22 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2135-03-12 to 2135-03-18, 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. At closest approach the object is south of the ecliptic. 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
2135-03-15 05:12:00 Earth 0.3488 AU 135.7 LD 36.6 km/s
2136-03-10 22:19:00 Earth 0.2653 AU 103.2 LD 34.2 km/s
2137-03-07 20:48:00 Earth 0.1826 AU 71.1 LD 31.8 km/s
2138-03-05 02:32:00 Earth 0.105 AU 40.9 LD 29.5 km/s
2139-03-02 18:24:00 Earth 0.0597 AU 23.2 LD 27.5 km/s
2140-02-28 23:16:00 Earth 0.1033 AU 40.2 LD 25.7 km/s
2141-02-26 21:04:00 Earth 0.1791 AU 69.7 LD 24.2 km/s
2197-03-15 05:10:00 Earth 0.3523 AU 137.1 LD 36.8 km/s
2198-03-11 22:00:00 Earth 0.2692 AU 104.8 LD 34.3 km/s
2199-01-11 14:37:00 Merc 0.0815 AU 31.7 LD 44.7 km/s

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

Sources