2017 KU34 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.86 AU to 1.18 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 376.5 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 9 December 2025.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 0.932 AU
- True anomaly
- 296.04°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.41 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
- 17h 28m 23s
- Declination
- -26° 36′ 43″
- Constellation
- Ophiuchus
- Distance from Earth
- 1.41 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 41.22° — 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
- 1.021 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.1559
- Inclination
- 5.22°
- Orbital period
- 376.5 days
- Perihelion
- 0.861 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.18 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 50.15°
- Argument of periapsis
- 320.91°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 22.8 LD
- 0.0586 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.97
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).
- Observations used
- 93
- Data arc
- 3.6 years
- First observed
- 30 May 2017
- Last observed
- 3 January 2021
- Residual RMS
- 0.58 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 9 December 2025
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 23.6
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 78 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2050-06-16 18:40 UTC close approach of 2017 KU34. Catalogue miss distance 48.5 LD · 1.86 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2050-06-13 to 2050-06-19, 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.
| When (UTC) | Body | Distance | Lunar distances | Relative speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2028-01-03 22:26:00 | Venus | 0.1355 AU | 52.7 LD | 1.7 km/s |
| 2050-06-16 18:40:00 | Earth | 0.1246 AU | 48.5 LD | 8.2 km/s |
| 2051-06-06 07:17:00 | Earth | 0.0913 AU | 35.5 LD | 4 km/s |
| 2052-04-19 21:59:00 | Earth | 0.1762 AU | 68.6 LD | 4.9 km/s |
| 2052-09-28 07:55:00 | Earth | 0.1532 AU | 59.6 LD | 5.2 km/s |
| 2053-03-11 16:00:00 | Earth | 0.1932 AU | 75.2 LD | 4.7 km/s |
| 2053-11-26 07:16:00 | Earth | 0.0899 AU | 35.0 LD | 4.5 km/s |
| 2054-12-28 22:55:00 | Earth | 0.1233 AU | 48.0 LD | 8.2 km/s |
| 2066-02-21 10:09:00 | Venus | 0.136 AU | 52.9 LD | 1.6 km/s |
| 2083-06-15 02:54:00 | Earth | 0.1813 AU | 70.6 LD | 9.9 km/s |
Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.
Sources
- visual properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- orbital elements: JPL SBDB