Asteroid Near-Earth Potentially hazardous

Khufu

3362 Khufu (1984 QA)

Khufu is an asteroid in the Aten orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.53 AU to 1.45 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 359.5 days; it is about 0.70 km across. Discovered 30 August 1984 by Dunbar, R. S., Barucci, M. A.. Orbit from the JPL solution of 12 April 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun: 0.669 AU
True anomaly: 70.72°
Distance from Earth: 1.457 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.

Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Khufu is 1.457 AU from Earth today (12.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension: 16h 11m 47s
Declination: -17° 24′ 25″
Constellation: Scorpius
Distance from Earth: 1.46 AU
Elongation from the Sun: 23.46° — 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.

Paste a location

How do I find my coordinates?

Google Maps on a computer

Right-click the spot where you'll be observing.
The first line of the menu is the coordinates, e.g. 51.50722, -0.12758 — click it and they're copied.
Paste them above.

Google Maps on a phone

Press and hold the spot to drop a pin.
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: 0.989 AU
Eccentricity: 0.4685
Inclination: 9.92°
Orbital period: 359.5 days
Perihelion: 0.526 AU
Aphelion: 1.453 AU
Longitude of ascending node: 152.4°
Argument of periapsis: 55.09°
Epoch · J2000: 2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE: Aten
Earth MOID · 5.1 LD: 0.0132 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter): 6.018

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used: 262
Data arc: 20.24 years
First observed: 30 August 1984
Last observed: 27 November 2004
Residual RMS: 0.63 ″
Solution · Otto Matic: 12 April 2021

Physical properties

Mean radius: 0.35 km

Visual & observation

Geometric albedo: 0.21
Absolute magnitude (H): 18.52

Discovery & classification

Discovered by: Dunbar, R. S., Barucci, M. A.
Discovery date: 30 August 1984
Discovery site: Palomar

Named for the Egyptian god-king Khufu, better known by his Greek name of Cheops, a pharaoh of the 29th century B.C. and builder of the largest of the great pyramids at Giza, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Also known as 3362 · 1984 QA

Aten Near-Earth Object Named Potentially Hazardous Asteroid

Close approaches 217 on record

Flyby geometry

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2040-09-09 15:58 UTC close approach of Khufu. Catalogue miss distance 189.3 LD · 7.28 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2040-09-06 to 2040-09-12, 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
2040-09-09 15:58:00	Earth	0.4864 AU	189.3 LD	30 km/s
2041-09-05 20:00:00	Earth	0.3944 AU	153.5 LD	27.1 km/s
2042-09-02 01:11:00	Earth	0.3009 AU	117.1 LD	24.1 km/s
2043-08-29 09:10:00	Earth	0.2063 AU	80.3 LD	21.3 km/s
2044-08-24 23:22:00	Earth	0.1117 AU	43.5 LD	18.4 km/s
2045-08-22 01:38:00	Earth	0.0212 AU	8.2 LD	15.7 km/s
2046-08-20 07:39:00	Earth	0.0707 AU	27.5 LD	13.3 km/s
2047-08-20 22:28:00	Earth	0.1572 AU	61.2 LD	11.3 km/s
2048-08-25 22:15:00	Earth	0.2395 AU	93.2 LD	10.2 km/s
2049-07-12 18:58:00	Earth	0.3581 AU	139.4 LD	7.7 km/s

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

Sources

visual properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
physical properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
visual properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
orbital elements: JPL SBDB