2010 NK1 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.83 AU to 1.2 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 373.2 days; it is about 0.22 km across. Orbit from the JPL solution of 1 March 2023.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 0.994 AU
- True anomaly
- 94.38°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.775 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
- 16h 26m 09s
- Declination
- -22° 01′ 27″
- Constellation
- Ophiuchus
- Distance from Earth
- 1.78 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 26.68° — 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
- 1.014 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.1837
- Inclination
- 14.76°
- Orbital period
- 373.2 days
- Perihelion
- 0.828 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.201 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 277.17°
- Argument of periapsis
- 262.96°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 4.4 LD
- 0.0113 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.969
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 2).
- Observations used
- 126
- Data arc
- 417 days
- First observed
- 5 July 2010
- Last observed
- 26 August 2011
- Residual RMS
- 0.37 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 1 March 2023
Physical properties
- Mean radius
- 0.11 km
Visual & observation
- Geometric albedo
- 0.04
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 22.41
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 88 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2048-12-06 23:21 UTC close approach of 2010 NK1. Catalogue miss distance 158.0 LD · 6.07 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2048-12-03 to 2048-12-09, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2048-12-06 23:21:00 | Earth | 0.406 AU | 158.0 LD | 19.4 km/s |
| 2049-12-13 09:05:00 | Earth | 0.2726 AU | 106.1 LD | 15.8 km/s |
| 2050-12-20 00:08:00 | Earth | 0.1391 AU | 54.1 LD | 12.4 km/s |
| 2051-12-26 19:37:00 | Earth | 0.0209 AU | 8.1 LD | 9.6 km/s |
| 2053-01-02 14:09:00 | Earth | 0.1234 AU | 48.0 LD | 8 km/s |
| 2054-01-27 17:26:00 | Earth | 0.2481 AU | 96.5 LD | 7.9 km/s |
| 2054-10-03 01:03:00 | Earth | 0.343 AU | 133.5 LD | 5.1 km/s |
| 2055-05-03 00:03:00 | Earth | 0.2776 AU | 108.0 LD | 6.6 km/s |
| 2055-06-27 01:40:00 | Earth | 0.281 AU | 109.4 LD | 8 km/s |
| 2056-06-23 03:09:00 | Earth | 0.1564 AU | 60.9 LD | 7.6 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