2021 PQ6 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.66 AU to 1.42 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 385.9 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 29 April 2025.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.336 AU
- True anomaly
- 206.54°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.726 AU
- As of
- 4 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
- 18h 12m 33s
- Declination
- -23° 18′ 05″
- Constellation
- Sagittarius
- Distance from Earth
- 1.73 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 50.48° — 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
- 1.037 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.3672
- Inclination
- 3.28°
- Orbital period
- 385.9 days
- Perihelion
- 0.656 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.418 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 305.4°
- Argument of periapsis
- 155.82°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 16.8 LD
- 0.0432 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.846
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).
- Observations used
- 62
- Data arc
- 4.67 years
- First observed
- 26 August 2020
- Last observed
- 28 April 2025
- Residual RMS
- 0.39 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 29 April 2025
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 22.91
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 82 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2039-09-16 15:55 UTC close approach of 2021 PQ6. Catalogue miss distance 18.3 LD · 7.02 × 10⁶ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2039-09-13 to 2039-09-19, 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 north of the ecliptic. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2032-07-27 11:11:00 | Venus | 0.1292 AU | 50.3 LD | 15 km/s |
| 2037-05-01 21:10:00 | Mars | 0.0314 AU | 12.2 LD | 6.1 km/s |
| 2039-09-16 15:55:00 | Earth | 0.0469 AU | 18.3 LD | 11.3 km/s |
| 2044-04-21 04:41:00 | Earth | 0.0999 AU | 38.9 LD | 13.1 km/s |
| 2051-06-12 14:20:00 | Venus | 0.0913 AU | 35.5 LD | 12.9 km/s |
| 2058-09-17 19:49:00 | Earth | 0.0472 AU | 18.4 LD | 10.2 km/s |
| 2058-11-04 06:51:00 | Venus | 0.0588 AU | 22.9 LD | 10.6 km/s |
| 2063-04-22 21:43:00 | Earth | 0.1156 AU | 45.0 LD | 13.7 km/s |
| 2066-03-29 19:34:00 | Venus | 0.0515 AU | 20.0 LD | 9.3 km/s |
| 2073-08-23 08:57:00 | Venus | 0.0556 AU | 21.6 LD | 8.8 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