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Asteroid Near-Earth

2016 SX1

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(2016 SX1)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.918 AU
True anomaly
244.6°
Distance from Earth
0.609 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 SX1 — 0.918 AU from the Sun 2016 SX1
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2016 SX1 is 0.609 AU from Earth today (5.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
09h 46m 32s
Declination
+17° 08′ 34″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
0.61 AU
Elongation from the Sun
64.56° — well clear of the Sun

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

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
0.879 AU
Eccentricity
0.1466
Inclination
2.62°
Orbital period
301 days
Perihelion
0.75 AU
Aphelion
1.008 AU
Longitude of ascending node
1.14°
Argument of periapsis
178.43°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 1.5 LD
0.0039 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.732

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 5).

Observations used
43
Data arc
6 days
First observed
25 September 2016
Last observed
1 October 2016
Residual RMS
0.38 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
28.6

Discovery & classification

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

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 58 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2016 SX1 at 2030-09-03 17:18 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2030-09-03 17:18 UTC close approach of 2016 SX1. Catalogue miss distance 14.4 LD · 5.52 × 10⁶ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2030-08-31 to 2030-09-06, 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. Sun 14.4 LD · 5.52 × 10⁶ km 2030-09-03 17:18 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2030-09-03 17:18 UTC close approach of 2016 SX1. Catalogue miss distance 14.4 LD · 5.52 × 10⁶ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2030-08-31 to 2030-09-06, 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
2030-09-03 17:18:00 Earth 0.0369 AU 14.4 LD 3.7 km/s
2031-12-18 10:35:00 Venus 0.0918 AU 35.7 LD 5 km/s
2034-05-26 07:21:00 Venus 0.0755 AU 29.4 LD 2.1 km/s
2035-06-07 11:55:00 Earth 0.1926 AU 75.0 LD 4.1 km/s
2035-10-28 04:41:00 Earth 0.1543 AU 60.1 LD 7.4 km/s
2040-04-16 06:04:00 Earth 0.2409 AU 93.7 LD 6.7 km/s
2040-10-19 01:42:00 Earth 0.3952 AU 153.8 LD 14.9 km/s
2044-09-03 14:14:00 Earth 0.3457 AU 134.6 LD 13.5 km/s
2045-03-04 09:41:00 Earth 0.2352 AU 91.5 LD 6.7 km/s
2049-08-29 10:26:00 Earth 0.1176 AU 45.8 LD 6.3 km/s

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

Sources