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Asteroid Near-Earth

2021 AM6

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(2021 AM6)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.662 AU
True anomaly
34.56°
Distance from Earth
0.638 AU
As of
19 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 2021 AM6 — 0.662 AU from the Sun 2021 AM6
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2021 AM6 is 0.638 AU from Earth today (5.3 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 19m 42s
Declination
-24° 14′ 04″
Constellation
Scorpius
Distance from Earth
0.64 AU
Elongation from the Sun
40.88° — 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
0.829 AU
Eccentricity
0.2277
Inclination
3.03°
Orbital period
275.6 days
Perihelion
0.64 AU
Aphelion
1.018 AU
Longitude of ascending node
106.65°
Argument of periapsis
206.17°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 0.6 LD
0.0015 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
7.054

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).

Observations used
52
Data arc
36 days
First observed
14 January 2021
Last observed
19 February 2021
Residual RMS
0.33 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
26.62

Discovery & classification

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

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 28 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2021 AM6 at 2026-12-31 00:04 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2026-12-31 00:04 UTC close approach of 2021 AM6. Catalogue miss distance 60.6 LD · 2.33 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2026-12-28 to 2027-01-03, 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. Sun 60.6 LD · 2.33 × 10⁷ km 2026-12-31 00:04 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2026-12-31 00:04 UTC close approach of 2021 AM6. Catalogue miss distance 60.6 LD · 2.33 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2026-12-28 to 2027-01-03, 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.

JPL Horizons

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2026-12-31 00:04:00 Earth 0.1556 AU 60.6 LD 10.2 km/s
2027-05-25 17:02:00 Earth 0.2938 AU 114.3 LD 7.3 km/s
2029-11-10 20:35:00 Venus 0.0292 AU 11.4 LD 6.2 km/s
2030-01-03 00:03:00 Earth 0.2753 AU 107.2 LD 14.1 km/s
2030-06-12 20:59:00 Earth 0.3299 AU 128.4 LD 9.3 km/s
2032-09-08 15:39:00 Venus 0.1455 AU 56.6 LD 14.5 km/s
2033-01-06 06:21:00 Earth 0.3711 AU 144.4 LD 17.2 km/s
2033-06-26 03:59:00 Earth 0.3503 AU 136.3 LD 10.5 km/s
2036-01-10 16:05:00 Earth 0.4635 AU 180.4 LD 20.2 km/s
2036-07-08 08:31:00 Earth 0.3637 AU 141.5 LD 11.3 km/s

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

Sources