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Asteroid Near-Earth Potentially hazardous

2020 BN10

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(2020 BN10)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.011 AU
True anomaly
123.72°
Distance from Earth
0.202 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 BN10 — 1.011 AU from the Sun 2020 BN10
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2020 BN10 is 0.202 AU from Earth today (1.7 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
20h 28m 40s
Declination
-43° 18′ 39″
Constellation
Microscopium
Distance from Earth
0.21 AU
Elongation from the Sun
89.63° — well clear of the Sun

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.

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
0.928 AU
Eccentricity
0.3443
Inclination
20.52°
Orbital period
326.4 days
Perihelion
0.608 AU
Aphelion
1.247 AU
Longitude of ascending node
185.74°
Argument of periapsis
69.02°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 18.6 LD
0.0479 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.351

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 2).

Observations used
57
Data arc
10.27 years
First observed
30 September 2010
Last observed
5 January 2021
Residual RMS
0.47 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
1 March 2023

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
20.99

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object Potentially Hazardous Asteroid

Close approaches 185 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2020 BN10 at 2027-07-21 10:23 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-07-21 10:23 UTC close approach of 2020 BN10. Catalogue miss distance 177.7 LD · 6.83 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-07-18 to 2027-07-24, 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 177.7 LD · 6.83 × 10⁷ km 2027-07-21 10:23 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-07-21 10:23 UTC close approach of 2020 BN10. Catalogue miss distance 177.7 LD · 6.83 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-07-18 to 2027-07-24, 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
2026-10-10 07:08:00 Earth 0.1494 AU 58.1 LD 18.3 km/s
2027-07-21 10:23:00 Earth 0.4566 AU 177.7 LD 12.1 km/s
2027-11-15 21:56:00 Earth 0.4369 AU 170.0 LD 10.2 km/s
2028-04-19 00:13:00 Venus 0.1292 AU 50.3 LD 21.7 km/s
2028-04-23 23:53:00 Earth 0.3882 AU 151.1 LD 15.6 km/s
2029-02-13 21:36:00 Earth 0.2753 AU 107.1 LD 19.3 km/s
2034-10-21 04:54:00 Earth 0.3982 AU 155.0 LD 25.4 km/s
2035-09-30 06:32:00 Earth 0.247 AU 96.1 LD 10.9 km/s
2036-05-26 17:05:00 Earth 0.4716 AU 183.5 LD 16.1 km/s
2037-03-07 05:32:00 Earth 0.2114 AU 82.3 LD 14.8 km/s

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

Sources