2021 WN2 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.74 AU to 1.3 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 376.9 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 28 July 2026.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.275 AU
- True anomaly
- 197.9°
- Distance from Earth
- 0.709 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
- 21h 19m 14s
- Declination
- -15° 56′ 31″
- Constellation
- Capricornus
- Distance from Earth
- 0.71 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 95.4° — well clear of the Sun
Favours the southern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far north.
From your location
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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
- 1.021 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.2715
- Inclination
- 0.26°
- Orbital period
- 376.9 days
- Perihelion
- 0.744 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.298 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 46.76°
- Argument of periapsis
- 123.06°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 0.8 LD
- 0.0019 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.948
Orbit quality
Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).
- Observations used
- 28
- Data arc
- 4 days
- First observed
- 28 November 2021
- Last observed
- 2 December 2021
- Residual RMS
- 0.36 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 28 July 2026
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 26.72
Discovery & classification
Listed by JPL impact monitoring; see the Sentry table for current probabilities.
Close approaches 16 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-06-25 19:41 UTC close approach of 2021 WN2. Catalogue miss distance 10.9 LD · 4.18 × 10⁶ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-06-22 to 2027-06-28, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2027-06-25 19:41:00 | Earth | 0.028 AU | 10.9 LD | 7.2 km/s |
| 2028-05-04 21:55:00 | Venus | 0.1465 AU | 57.0 LD | 10.7 km/s |
| 2028-07-02 10:38:00 | Earth | 0.1537 AU | 59.8 LD | 12.6 km/s |
| 2054-11-28 23:58:00 | Earth | 0.1127 AU | 43.9 LD | 11.4 km/s |
| 2055-12-05 20:25:00 | Earth | 0.0777 AU | 30.3 LD | 5.7 km/s |
| 2060-03-18 10:40:00 | Venus | 0.1328 AU | 51.7 LD | 9.9 km/s |
| 2061-06-27 18:03:00 | Earth | 0.0365 AU | 14.2 LD | 9.1 km/s |
| 2063-05-04 07:19:00 | Venus | 0.0477 AU | 18.6 LD | 3.8 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