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Asteroid Near-Earth

2020 AZ1

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(2020 AZ1)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.937 AU
True anomaly
108.82°
Distance from Earth
0.124 AU
As of
21 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 — 0.995 AU from the Sun Earth 2020 AZ1 — 0.937 AU from the Sun 2020 AZ1
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2020 AZ1 is 0.124 AU from Earth today (1.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 22m 07s
Declination
+35° 01′ 50″
Constellation
Corona Borealis
Distance from Earth
0.12 AU
Elongation from the Sun
58.91° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

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
0.916 AU
Eccentricity
0.0965
Inclination
6.29°
Orbital period
320.3 days
Perihelion
0.828 AU
Aphelion
1.004 AU
Longitude of ascending node
289.16°
Argument of periapsis
348.49°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 7.1 LD
0.0183 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.51

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).

Observations used
30
Data arc
13 days
First observed
4 January 2020
Last observed
17 January 2020
Residual RMS
0.61 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
26.6

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 70 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2020 AZ1 at 2026-12-22 14:26 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2026-12-22 14:26 UTC close approach of 2020 AZ1. Catalogue miss distance 22.3 LD · 8.58 × 10⁶ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2026-12-19 to 2026-12-25, 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 22.3 LD · 8.58 × 10⁶ km 2026-12-22 14:26 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2026-12-22 14:26 UTC close approach of 2020 AZ1. Catalogue miss distance 22.3 LD · 8.58 × 10⁶ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2026-12-19 to 2026-12-25, 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
2026-12-22 14:26:00 Earth 0.0573 AU 22.3 LD 4 km/s
2033-11-28 10:18:00 Earth 0.1928 AU 75.0 LD 8 km/s
2034-05-28 23:05:00 Earth 0.1861 AU 72.4 LD 5.3 km/s
2035-01-25 23:59:00 Earth 0.4793 AU 186.5 LD 17.5 km/s
2040-11-29 13:38:00 Earth 0.3727 AU 145.1 LD 13.8 km/s
2041-07-09 11:31:00 Earth 0.1854 AU 72.2 LD 6 km/s
2042-01-30 23:09:00 Earth 0.2922 AU 113.7 LD 11.6 km/s
2048-08-21 12:45:00 Earth 0.1681 AU 65.4 LD 4.9 km/s
2049-01-29 22:26:00 Earth 0.109 AU 42.4 LD 6 km/s
2056-01-05 03:53:00 Earth 0.0276 AU 10.8 LD 3.8 km/s

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

Sources