2016 JL38 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.73 AU to 1.35 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 386.9 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 0.979 AU
- True anomaly
- 96.2°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.908 AU
- As of
- 4 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
- 13h 42m 55s
- Declination
- -11° 48′ 02″
- Constellation
- Virgo
- Distance from Earth
- 1.91 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 14.41° — too close to the Sun to observe
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
- 1.039 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.2959
- Inclination
- 4.66°
- Orbital period
- 386.9 days
- Perihelion
- 0.732 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.347 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 219.99°
- Argument of periapsis
- 237.13°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 11.9 LD
- 0.0305 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.858
Orbit quality
Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).
- Observations used
- 11
- Data arc
- 3 days
- First observed
- 1 May 2016
- Last observed
- 4 May 2016
- Residual RMS
- 0.47 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 15 April 2021
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 25.7
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 23 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2029-08-29 19:02 UTC close approach of 2016 JL38. Catalogue miss distance 181.5 LD · 6.98 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2029-08-26 to 2029-09-01, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2029-08-29 19:02:00 | Earth | 0.4664 AU | 181.5 LD | 22.4 km/s |
| 2034-04-10 08:19:00 | Earth | 0.0472 AU | 18.4 LD | 9.8 km/s |
| 2035-04-26 20:53:00 | Earth | 0.4117 AU | 160.2 LD | 20.9 km/s |
| 2040-05-24 01:54:00 | Venus | 0.1005 AU | 39.1 LD | 10.7 km/s |
| 2047-09-07 14:26:00 | Earth | 0.3023 AU | 117.6 LD | 17.4 km/s |
| 2048-09-28 06:13:00 | Earth | 0.094 AU | 36.6 LD | 6.5 km/s |
| 2049-07-22 23:07:00 | Earth | 0.3199 AU | 124.5 LD | 7.4 km/s |
| 2050-06-11 07:06:00 | Earth | 0.3252 AU | 126.6 LD | 7.7 km/s |
| 2052-04-18 04:47:00 | Earth | 0.2369 AU | 92.2 LD | 15.6 km/s |
| 2082-09-10 06:51:00 | Earth | 0.2484 AU | 96.7 LD | 15.8 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