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Asteroid Near-Earth

2020 VN1

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(2020 VN1)

2020 VN1 is an asteroid in the Aten orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.92 AU to 1.04 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 354.4 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 13 April 2022.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.038 AU
True anomaly
160.38°
Distance from Earth
1.001 AU
As of
2 November 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 — 0.992 AU from the Sun Earth 2020 VN1 — 1.038 AU from the Sun 2020 VN1
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2020 VN1 is 1.001 AU from Earth today (8.3 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
10h 42m 57s
Declination
+11° 23′ 20″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
1 AU
Elongation from the Sun
62.81° — well clear of the Sun

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
0.98 AU
Eccentricity
0.0633
Inclination
3.51°
Orbital period
354.4 days
Perihelion
0.918 AU
Aphelion
1.042 AU
Longitude of ascending node
43.92°
Argument of periapsis
255.06°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 0.1 LD
0.0004 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.173

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 2).

Observations used
146
Data arc
500 days
First observed
8 November 2020
Last observed
23 March 2022
Residual RMS
0.35 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
13 April 2022

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
27.93

Discovery & classification

Listed by JPL impact monitoring; see the Sentry table for current probabilities.

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 63 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2020 VN1 at 2051-11-16 23:06 UTC Sun 144.5 LD · 5.56 × 10⁷ km 2051-11-16 23:06 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2051-11-16 23:06 UTC close approach of 2020 VN1. Catalogue miss distance 144.5 LD · 5.56 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2051-11-13 to 2051-11-19, 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
2051-11-16 23:06:00 Earth 0.3714 AU 144.5 LD 13.7 km/s
2052-11-09 12:44:00 Earth 0.1888 AU 73.5 LD 8.2 km/s
2053-11-05 07:40:00 Earth 0.0083 AU 3.2 LD 3.2 km/s
2054-11-05 18:18:00 Earth 0.031 AU 12.1 LD 2.3 km/s
2055-09-09 01:19:00 Earth 0.0898 AU 34.9 LD 2.1 km/s
2055-12-22 03:36:00 Earth 0.0825 AU 32.1 LD 2.2 km/s
2056-07-23 14:31:00 Earth 0.1028 AU 40.0 LD 2.5 km/s
2057-02-08 21:46:00 Earth 0.0916 AU 35.6 LD 2.1 km/s
2057-06-11 23:48:00 Earth 0.0859 AU 33.4 LD 2.4 km/s
2058-04-28 17:46:00 Earth 0.0407 AU 15.8 LD 2.3 km/s

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

Sources