2016 VZ is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.7 AU to 1.37 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 384.4 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.219 AU
- True anomaly
- 137.89°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.832 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
- 17h 17m 14s
- Declination
- -25° 37′ 46″
- Constellation
- Ophiuchus
- Distance from Earth
- 1.84 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 38.15° — 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.
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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
- 1.035 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.325
- Inclination
- 4.18°
- Orbital period
- 384.4 days
- Perihelion
- 0.698 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.371 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 44.06°
- Argument of periapsis
- 107.93°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 3.0 LD
- 0.0078 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.871
Orbit quality
Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 6).
- Observations used
- 71
- Data arc
- 5 days
- First observed
- 5 November 2016
- Last observed
- 10 November 2016
- Residual RMS
- 0.42 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 15 April 2021
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 25.9
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 87 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2035-10-29 09:04 UTC close approach of 2016 VZ. Catalogue miss distance 136.6 LD · 5.25 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2035-10-26 to 2035-11-01, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2028-01-27 19:04:00 | Mars | 0.0563 AU | 21.9 LD | 5.7 km/s |
| 2030-10-17 21:52:00 | Venus | 0.1107 AU | 43.1 LD | 12.3 km/s |
| 2035-10-29 09:04:00 | Earth | 0.3511 AU | 136.6 LD | 20.3 km/s |
| 2036-11-11 16:43:00 | Earth | 0.0239 AU | 9.3 LD | 10.4 km/s |
| 2037-10-14 11:31:00 | Earth | 0.2574 AU | 100.2 LD | 7 km/s |
| 2038-01-10 01:45:00 | Earth | 0.2503 AU | 97.4 LD | 8.5 km/s |
| 2038-02-22 19:50:00 | Venus | 0.0094 AU | 3.7 LD | 7.1 km/s |
| 2038-09-06 18:59:00 | Earth | 0.3687 AU | 143.5 LD | 8.6 km/s |
| 2039-03-08 03:18:00 | Earth | 0.2935 AU | 114.2 LD | 10.8 km/s |
| 2039-08-03 13:05:00 | Earth | 0.3481 AU | 135.5 LD | 8.1 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