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Asteroid Near-Earth

2016 YK4

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(2016 YK4)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.071 AU
True anomaly
166.83°
Distance from Earth
1.43 AU
As of
20 October 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.

Sun Earth — 0.996 AU from the Sun Earth 2016 YK4 — 1.071 AU from the Sun 2016 YK4
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2016 YK4 is 1.43 AU from Earth today (11.9 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
10h 36m 46s
Declination
+04° 36′ 19″
Constellation
Sextans
Distance from Earth
1.43 AU
Elongation from the Sun
48.42° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

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.

How do I find my coordinates?

Google Maps on a computer

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

Google Maps on a phone

  1. Press and hold the spot to drop a pin.
  2. 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
0.87 AU
Eccentricity
0.2404
Inclination
10.14°
Orbital period
296.6 days
Perihelion
0.661 AU
Aphelion
1.08 AU
Longitude of ascending node
264.59°
Argument of periapsis
43.82°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 2.0 LD
0.005 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.759

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).

Observations used
20
Data arc
8 days
First observed
23 December 2016
Last observed
31 December 2016
Residual RMS
0.4 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
26.1

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 52 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2016 YK4 at 2029-12-21 09:16 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2029-12-21 09:16 UTC close approach of 2016 YK4. Catalogue miss distance 27.2 LD · 1.04 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2029-12-18 to 2029-12-24, 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 south of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. Sun 27.2 LD · 1.04 × 10⁷ km 2029-12-21 09:16 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2029-12-21 09:16 UTC close approach of 2016 YK4. Catalogue miss distance 27.2 LD · 1.04 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2029-12-18 to 2029-12-24, 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 south of the ecliptic. 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
2027-03-06 09:06:00 Venus 0.1207 AU 47.0 LD 15.1 km/s
2029-12-21 09:16:00 Earth 0.0698 AU 27.2 LD 6.9 km/s
2030-05-23 19:57:00 Earth 0.2763 AU 107.5 LD 9.2 km/s
2033-12-19 03:24:00 Earth 0.2646 AU 103.0 LD 15.7 km/s
2034-07-11 14:34:00 Earth 0.3539 AU 137.7 LD 12.3 km/s
2038-08-26 16:01:00 Earth 0.3642 AU 141.7 LD 11 km/s
2039-03-14 16:35:00 Earth 0.2391 AU 93.0 LD 11.9 km/s
2042-08-26 05:04:00 Venus 0.1401 AU 54.5 LD 9.6 km/s
2043-01-11 10:06:00 Earth 0.1414 AU 55.0 LD 6.7 km/s
2043-05-05 01:19:00 Earth 0.2402 AU 93.5 LD 7.4 km/s

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

Sources