2016 GC221 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.86 AU to 1.2 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 382.6 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 0.951 AU
- True anomaly
- 289.71°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.925 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
- 14h 49m 17s
- Declination
- -22° 41′ 10″
- Constellation
- Libra
- Distance from Earth
- 1.92 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 7.61° — too close to the Sun to observe
Favours the southern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far north.
From your location
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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
- 1.031 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.1647
- Inclination
- 25.26°
- Orbital period
- 382.6 days
- Perihelion
- 0.861 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.201 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 23.5°
- Argument of periapsis
- 279.85°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 7.7 LD
- 0.0198 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.839
Orbit quality
Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).
- Observations used
- 71
- Data arc
- 2 days
- First observed
- 13 April 2016
- Last observed
- 15 April 2016
- Residual RMS
- 0.38 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 15 April 2021
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 24.8
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 44 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2037-04-06 15:09 UTC close approach of 2016 GC221. Catalogue miss distance 115.4 LD · 4.44 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2037-04-03 to 2037-04-09, 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.
| When (UTC) | Body | Distance | Lunar distances | Relative speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2037-04-06 15:09:00 | Earth | 0.2966 AU | 115.4 LD | 19.2 km/s |
| 2082-04-06 13:51:00 | Earth | 0.3079 AU | 119.8 LD | 19.4 km/s |
| 2083-04-14 23:28:00 | Earth | 0.0365 AU | 14.2 LD | 14.2 km/s |
| 2084-04-16 17:21:00 | Earth | 0.2522 AU | 98.2 LD | 12.9 km/s |
| 2084-10-02 15:28:00 | Earth | 0.3345 AU | 130.2 LD | 13.9 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