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Asteroid Near-Earth Potentially hazardous

2017 XA1

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(2017 XA1)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.817 AU
True anomaly
255.85°
Distance from Earth
1.158 AU
As of
16 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 — 0.997 AU from the Sun Earth 2017 XA1 — 0.817 AU from the Sun 2017 XA1
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2017 XA1 is 1.158 AU from Earth today (9.6 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
10h 37m 35s
Declination
-00° 19′ 03″
Constellation
Sextans
Distance from Earth
1.16 AU
Elongation from the Sun
43.59° — 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
0.809 AU
Eccentricity
0.2016
Inclination
17.18°
Orbital period
266 days
Perihelion
0.646 AU
Aphelion
0.973 AU
Longitude of ascending node
239.62°
Argument of periapsis
327.61°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · IEO
Atira (interior-Earth object)
Earth MOID · 19.1 LD
0.0491 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
7.166

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
30
Data arc
2.97 years
First observed
5 December 2017
Last observed
23 November 2020
Residual RMS
0.67 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
21.3

Discovery & classification

Atira Near-Earth Object Potentially Hazardous Asteroid

Close approaches 178 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2017 XA1 at 2028-07-18 17:16 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2028-07-18 17:16 UTC close approach of 2017 XA1. Catalogue miss distance 127.5 LD · 4.9 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2028-07-15 to 2028-07-21, 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. Sun 127.5 LD · 4.9 × 10⁷ km 2028-07-18 17:16 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2028-07-18 17:16 UTC close approach of 2017 XA1. Catalogue miss distance 127.5 LD · 4.9 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2028-07-15 to 2028-07-21, 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.

JPL Horizons

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2028-07-18 17:16:00 Earth 0.3276 AU 127.5 LD 9.6 km/s
2028-11-14 22:20:00 Earth 0.1533 AU 59.7 LD 11.9 km/s
2031-05-11 17:51:00 Earth 0.357 AU 138.9 LD 14.6 km/s
2032-02-08 20:06:00 Venus 0.0635 AU 24.7 LD 14.7 km/s
2033-11-08 07:30:00 Earth 0.4295 AU 167.1 LD 15.3 km/s
2034-03-04 01:33:00 Earth 0.3936 AU 153.2 LD 9.6 km/s
2036-08-02 03:11:00 Earth 0.3258 AU 126.8 LD 7.3 km/s
2036-11-16 20:02:00 Earth 0.096 AU 37.4 LD 10.6 km/s
2039-05-18 15:32:00 Earth 0.3509 AU 136.6 LD 14.5 km/s
2040-02-14 17:45:00 Venus 0.1262 AU 49.1 LD 16.5 km/s

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

Sources