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Asteroid Near-Earth

2021 LF6

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(2021 LF6)

2021 LF6 is an asteroid in the Aten orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.94 AU to 1.02 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 354.8 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 24 September 2024.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.947 AU
True anomaly
25.36°
Distance from Earth
0.968 AU
As of
2 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.

Sun Earth — 0.992 AU from the Sun Earth 2021 LF6 — 0.947 AU from the Sun 2021 LF6
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2021 LF6 is 0.968 AU from Earth today (8.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
10h 55m 42s
Declination
+05° 44′ 33″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
0.97 AU
Elongation from the Sun
57.76° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

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.

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
0.981 AU
Eccentricity
0.038
Inclination
2.7°
Orbital period
354.8 days
Perihelion
0.944 AU
Aphelion
1.018 AU
Longitude of ascending node
257.95°
Argument of periapsis
176.87°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 1.2 LD
0.003 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.171

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 4).

Observations used
28
Data arc
16 days
First observed
11 June 2021
Last observed
27 June 2021
Residual RMS
0.47 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
24 September 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
28.54

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 39 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2021 LF6 at 2053-04-26 11:32 UTC Sun 149.7 LD · 5.75 × 10⁷ km 2053-04-26 11:32 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2053-04-26 11:32 UTC close approach of 2021 LF6. Catalogue miss distance 149.7 LD · 5.75 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2053-04-23 to 2053-04-29, 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
2053-04-26 11:32:00 Earth 0.3847 AU 149.7 LD 11.9 km/s
2054-04-16 20:36:00 Earth 0.2133 AU 83.0 LD 6.8 km/s
2055-05-03 20:05:00 Earth 0.0556 AU 21.7 LD 2.1 km/s
2055-11-23 03:47:00 Earth 0.0382 AU 14.9 LD 1.7 km/s
2056-06-19 01:09:00 Earth 0.0501 AU 19.5 LD 2.3 km/s
2057-06-20 17:23:00 Earth 0.2207 AU 85.9 LD 7.1 km/s
2058-06-16 06:41:00 Earth 0.3965 AU 154.3 LD 12.3 km/s
2087-04-23 09:49:00 Earth 0.3418 AU 133.0 LD 10.6 km/s
2088-04-13 21:06:00 Earth 0.1663 AU 64.7 LD 5.3 km/s
2089-01-23 07:54:00 Earth 0.0443 AU 17.2 LD 1.5 km/s

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

Sources