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Asteroid Near-Earth

2020 BN7

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(2020 BN7)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.927 AU
True anomaly
275.58°
Distance from Earth
1.917 AU
As of
22 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 BN7 — 0.927 AU from the Sun 2020 BN7
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2020 BN7 is 1.917 AU from Earth today (15.9 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
14h 00m 36s
Declination
-08° 25′ 46″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
1.92 AU
Elongation from the Sun
3.81° — 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
0.953 AU
Eccentricity
0.1244
Inclination
8.24°
Orbital period
339.7 days
Perihelion
0.834 AU
Aphelion
1.071 AU
Longitude of ascending node
97.82°
Argument of periapsis
198.1°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 28.4 LD
0.0729 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.302

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 4).

Observations used
29
Data arc
42 days
First observed
23 January 2020
Last observed
5 March 2020
Residual RMS
0.41 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
23.8

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 122 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2020 BN7 at 2031-11-25 04:32 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2031-11-25 04:32 UTC close approach of 2020 BN7. Catalogue miss distance 86.5 LD · 3.32 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2031-11-22 to 2031-11-28, 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 86.5 LD · 3.32 × 10⁷ km 2031-11-25 04:32 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2031-11-25 04:32 UTC close approach of 2020 BN7. Catalogue miss distance 86.5 LD · 3.32 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2031-11-22 to 2031-11-28, 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
2031-11-25 04:32:00 Earth 0.2223 AU 86.5 LD 10.4 km/s
2032-08-15 06:15:00 Earth 0.1928 AU 75.0 LD 6.1 km/s
2033-01-23 16:54:00 Earth 0.1123 AU 43.7 LD 5.2 km/s
2033-05-11 07:18:00 Earth 0.1554 AU 60.5 LD 5.3 km/s
2034-03-09 10:18:00 Earth 0.3618 AU 140.8 LD 14.2 km/s
2044-11-26 16:22:00 Earth 0.3512 AU 136.7 LD 14.5 km/s
2045-12-23 07:01:00 Earth 0.0779 AU 30.3 LD 5.3 km/s
2046-06-13 22:52:00 Earth 0.1704 AU 66.3 LD 6.6 km/s
2047-03-13 21:20:00 Earth 0.2418 AU 94.1 LD 10 km/s
2057-11-30 07:04:00 Earth 0.4628 AU 180.1 LD 18 km/s

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

Sources