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Asteroid Near-Earth Potentially hazardous

2017 NK

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(2017 NK)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.871 AU
True anomaly
39.62°
Distance from Earth
1.843 AU
As of
24 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 — 0.994 AU from the Sun Earth 2017 NK — 0.871 AU from the Sun 2017 NK
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2017 NK is 1.843 AU from Earth today (15.3 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
13h 24m 20s
Declination
-14° 39′ 49″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
1.84 AU
Elongation from the Sun
8.34° — 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.

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
0.967 AU
Eccentricity
0.1216
Inclination
13.55°
Orbital period
347.1 days
Perihelion
0.849 AU
Aphelion
1.084 AU
Longitude of ascending node
254.71°
Argument of periapsis
262.46°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 16.5 LD
0.0423 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.215

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
138
Data arc
3.4 years
First observed
2 July 2017
Last observed
25 November 2020
Residual RMS
0.63 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
21.2

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object Potentially Hazardous Asteroid

Close approaches 85 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2017 NK at 2035-07-07 17:59 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2035-07-07 17:59 UTC close approach of 2017 NK. Catalogue miss distance 174.5 LD · 6.71 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2035-07-04 to 2035-07-10, 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. Sun 174.5 LD · 6.71 × 10⁷ km 2035-07-07 17:59 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2035-07-07 17:59 UTC close approach of 2017 NK. Catalogue miss distance 174.5 LD · 6.71 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2035-07-04 to 2035-07-10, 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
2035-07-07 17:59:00 Earth 0.4485 AU 174.5 LD 17.9 km/s
2036-06-20 06:29:00 Earth 0.1545 AU 60.1 LD 10.4 km/s
2037-05-24 14:25:00 Earth 0.1539 AU 59.9 LD 7.1 km/s
2037-12-14 13:55:00 Earth 0.1246 AU 48.5 LD 7.3 km/s
2038-11-19 15:48:00 Earth 0.1929 AU 75.1 LD 11.5 km/s
2039-11-02 15:54:00 Earth 0.4932 AU 191.9 LD 19.5 km/s
2055-06-24 15:27:00 Earth 0.2139 AU 83.3 LD 11.8 km/s
2056-06-01 11:41:00 Earth 0.0972 AU 37.8 LD 7.1 km/s
2056-12-25 03:35:00 Earth 0.1827 AU 71.1 LD 7.4 km/s
2057-11-23 05:19:00 Earth 0.134 AU 52.1 LD 10.1 km/s

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

Sources