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Dwarf Planets and Asteroids » 

Asteroid 2016 WF9

Above the horizon.  Rise: 22:54 | Tran: 3:27 | Set: 7:55
Alt: 21.51°   Az: 184.92°   Direction: South

Asteroid 2016 WF9 is in the constellation of Capricornus, at a distance of 449,565,449.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 21h 48m 07s and the Declination is -16° 52’ 59” (apparent coordinates). The magnitude of asteroid 2016 WF9 is 26.00.

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of asteroid 2016 WF9 in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

Star map showing the position of asteroid 2016 WF9 in the constellation of Capricornus on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.
Star map showing the position of asteroid 2016 WF9 in the constellation of Capricornus on F, d Y. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive star map.

The following map uses photographic imagery from the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) to realistically visualize the precise position of asteroid 2016 WF9 against the stars in the background. The horizontal size of the map measures 60 arcminutes. Click on the image to access a more detailed full-screen view.

2016 WF9
RA: 21h 46m 43s
Dec: -17° 00’ 08”
Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of asteroid 2016 WF9. Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

21h 48m 07s
-16° 52’ 59”
00h 19m 08s
22h 07m 16s

J2000

21h 46m 43s
-17° 00’ 08”

Additional Information

Capricornus
26.00

Rise and Set Times

The following table lists today's rise, transit and set times of asteroid 2016 WF9 from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 107.0°
Max altitude: 21.6°
Azimuth: 253.1°

If you need to access this information frequently for your observations, you can create a simple customized Quick Access page, so that you can easily bookmark it in your browser favorites or add a shortcut to your mobile phones' home screen.

Distance from Earth

The distance of asteroid 2016 WF9 from Earth is currently 449,565,449.0 kilometers, equivalent to 3.0051594110 Astronomical Units. Light takes 24m 59.589s to travel from asteroid 2016 WF9 and arrive to us.

449,565,449.0
3.0051594110
24m 59.589s

The following graph shows the distance of asteroid 2016 WF9 from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance is measured in Astronomical Units and the data is sampled with an interval of 1 day.

Chart of the distance of asteroid 2016 WF9 from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)
Note: The values in this chart may not be entirely accurate around the time of closest approach for objects passing very close to Earth at high speed (e.g., Near-Earth Objects).

The value of the distance of 2016 WF9 from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the live position tracker.

Closest Approach to Earth

In the period between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2099, the closest approach of asteroid 2016 WF9 to Earth will happen on Sunday 31 December 2045 at a distance of 0.139344 Astronomical Units, or 20,845,601 kilometers:

Sunday 31 December 2045
20,845,601
0.139344

Note: the values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.

Light Curve

The following chart shows the light curve of asteroid 2016 WF9, i.e., its apparent magnitude as a function of time. The curve is calculated using the latest ephemerides provided by JPL Horizons. The magnitude data is sampled with the interval of 2 days. Because of this sampling, inaccuracies may occur for objects that have large variations of brightness over a few days. For comets, large discrepancies can arise between the calculated brightness and the observations due to their highly dynamic, and not always precisely predictable, behavior.

Chart of the magnitude of asteroid 2016 WF9 as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of asteroid 2016 WF9 at epoch October, 16 2024 00:00 UTC (JD: 2460600.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.66484134
Orbit inclination i 15.17758252°
Perihelion distance q 0.95518152 AU
142,893,122 km
Aphelion distance Q 4.74469515 AU
709,796,293 km
Semi-major axis a 2.84993834 AU
426,344,708 km
Orbital period period 4.8113 years
1,757.3231 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp October 2, 2026
2,461,315.5411 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 342.89250683482°
Longitude of the ascending node node 125.15859497613°
Mean anomaly M 213.51880183399°
Mean motion n 0.20485703°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of asteroid 2016 WF9 relative to the other major objects in the Solar System. You can access more advanced features using our 3D Solar System Viewer.

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of asteroid 2016 WF9 computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Apparent celestial coordinates are provided.

Date Right AscensionR.A. DeclinationDec. MagnitudeMag Constellation
Jul 05 2025 21h 51m 39s -16° 17’ 36” 26.15 Capricornus
Jul 06 2025 21h 51m 13s -16° 22’ 18” 26.13 Capricornus
Jul 07 2025 21h 50m 45s -16° 27’ 06” 26.11 Capricornus
Jul 08 2025 21h 50m 16s -16° 31’ 58” 26.09 Capricornus
Jul 09 2025 21h 49m 47s -16° 36’ 57” 26.06 Capricornus
Jul 10 2025 21h 49m 16s -16° 42’ 00” 26.04 Capricornus
Jul 11 2025 21h 48m 44s -16° 47’ 09” 26.02 Capricornus
Jul 12 2025 21h 48m 11s -16° 52’ 23” 26.00 Capricornus
Jul 13 2025 21h 47m 37s -16° 57’ 42” 25.98 Capricornus
Jul 14 2025 21h 47m 01s -17° 03’ 06” 25.96 Capricornus
Jul 15 2025 21h 46m 25s -17° 08’ 35” 25.94 Capricornus
Jul 16 2025 21h 45m 48s -17° 14’ 08” 25.91 Capricornus
Jul 17 2025 21h 45m 10s -17° 19’ 45” 25.89 Capricornus
Jul 18 2025 21h 44m 31s -17° 25’ 26” 25.87 Capricornus

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