2009 FY4 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.68 AU to 1.34 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 372.2 days; it is about 0.13 km across. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.317 AU
- True anomaly
- 196.72°
- Distance from Earth
- 2.232 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
- 15h 37m 37s
- Declination
- -07° 01′ 05″
- Constellation
- Libra
- Distance from Earth
- 2.23 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 17.07° — too close to the Sun to observe
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.
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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
- 1.013 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.3275
- Inclination
- 20.98°
- Orbital period
- 372.2 days
- Perihelion
- 0.681 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.344 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 162.6°
- Argument of periapsis
- 244.69°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 16.9 LD
- 0.0433 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.917
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).
- Observations used
- 204
- Data arc
- 2.98 years
- First observed
- 19 March 2009
- Last observed
- 10 March 2012
- Residual RMS
- 0.39 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 15 April 2021
Physical properties
- Mean radius
- 0.06 km
Visual & observation
- Geometric albedo
- 0.421
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 21
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 135 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2050-07-15 18:44 UTC close approach of 2009 FY4. Catalogue miss distance 175.7 LD · 6.75 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2050-07-12 to 2050-07-18, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2029-03-22 18:56:00 | Venus | 0.0998 AU | 38.8 LD | 13.8 km/s |
| 2032-04-13 04:10:00 | Venus | 0.0511 AU | 19.9 LD | 16.7 km/s |
| 2050-07-15 18:44:00 | Earth | 0.4514 AU | 175.7 LD | 23.9 km/s |
| 2051-07-22 23:37:00 | Earth | 0.3568 AU | 138.9 LD | 21.2 km/s |
| 2052-07-29 22:39:00 | Earth | 0.2706 AU | 105.3 LD | 18.6 km/s |
| 2053-08-07 22:12:00 | Earth | 0.2036 AU | 79.2 LD | 16.5 km/s |
| 2054-08-18 10:25:00 | Earth | 0.1772 AU | 69.0 LD | 14.9 km/s |
| 2055-08-30 20:29:00 | Earth | 0.2014 AU | 78.4 LD | 14 km/s |
| 2056-09-13 07:19:00 | Earth | 0.2547 AU | 99.1 LD | 13.9 km/s |
| 2057-09-29 06:25:00 | Earth | 0.3137 AU | 122.1 LD | 14.2 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