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Asteroid Near-Earth

2021 EL3

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(2021 EL3)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.606 AU
True anomaly
4.36°
Distance from Earth
0.406 AU
As of
16 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 — 0.997 AU from the Sun Earth 2021 EL3 — 0.606 AU from the Sun 2021 EL3
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2021 EL3 is 0.406 AU from Earth today (3.4 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
14h 05m 36s
Declination
-15° 43′ 35″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
0.4 AU
Elongation from the Sun
10.9° — too close to the Sun to observe

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
0.816 AU
Eccentricity
0.2571
Inclination
3.8°
Orbital period
269 days
Perihelion
0.606 AU
Aphelion
1.025 AU
Longitude of ascending node
167.79°
Argument of periapsis
203.31°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 0.8 LD
0.0022 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
7.144

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).

Observations used
18
Data arc
4 days
First observed
11 March 2021
Last observed
15 March 2021
Residual RMS
0.59 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
28.81

Discovery & classification

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

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 45 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2021 EL3 at 2026-10-23 15:42 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2026-10-23 15:42 UTC close approach of 2021 EL3. Catalogue miss distance 149.5 LD · 5.75 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2026-10-20 to 2026-10-26, 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 149.5 LD · 5.75 × 10⁷ km 2026-10-23 15:42 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2026-10-23 15:42 UTC close approach of 2021 EL3. Catalogue miss distance 149.5 LD · 5.75 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2026-10-20 to 2026-10-26, 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
2026-10-21 08:12:00 Venus 0.1156 AU 45.0 LD 8.5 km/s
2026-10-23 15:42:00 Earth 0.3841 AU 149.5 LD 12.6 km/s
2027-04-17 18:59:00 Earth 0.4851 AU 188.8 LD 20.9 km/s
2029-09-14 11:49:00 Earth 0.3924 AU 152.7 LD 13 km/s
2030-06-17 10:51:00 Venus 0.1221 AU 47.5 LD 8.6 km/s
2032-03-02 18:04:00 Earth 0.2657 AU 103.4 LD 13.9 km/s
2032-08-02 22:57:00 Earth 0.3415 AU 132.9 LD 9.4 km/s
2037-09-27 01:40:00 Venus 0.0863 AU 33.6 LD 6.4 km/s
2037-11-27 16:27:00 Earth 0.331 AU 128.8 LD 9.2 km/s
2038-04-25 20:05:00 Earth 0.2311 AU 90.0 LD 12.5 km/s

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

Sources