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Asteroid Near-Earth

2020 VT4

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(2020 VT4)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.831 AU
True anomaly
76.57°
Distance from Earth
0.459 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 VT4 — 0.831 AU from the Sun 2020 VT4
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2020 VT4 is 0.459 AU from Earth today (3.8 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
17h 33m 31s
Declination
-09° 10′ 27″
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Distance from Earth
0.46 AU
Elongation from the Sun
56.08° — 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
0.908 AU
Eccentricity
0.203
Inclination
10.17°
Orbital period
316 days
Perihelion
0.724 AU
Aphelion
1.092 AU
Longitude of ascending node
231.38°
Argument of periapsis
53.71°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 0.1 LD
0.0003 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.536

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 5).

Observations used
34
Data arc
5 days
First observed
14 November 2020
Last observed
19 November 2020
Residual RMS
0.41 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
28.61

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 103 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2020 VT4 at 2026-11-22 13:27 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2026-11-22 13:27 UTC close approach of 2020 VT4. Catalogue miss distance 133.8 LD · 5.14 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2026-11-19 to 2026-11-25, 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. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. Sun 133.8 LD · 5.14 × 10⁷ km 2026-11-22 13:27 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2026-11-22 13:27 UTC close approach of 2020 VT4. Catalogue miss distance 133.8 LD · 5.14 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2026-11-19 to 2026-11-25, 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. 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
2026-11-22 13:27:00 Earth 0.3437 AU 133.8 LD 17.5 km/s
2027-07-27 09:25:00 Earth 0.3203 AU 124.6 LD 9.1 km/s
2028-03-11 13:42:00 Earth 0.17 AU 66.2 LD 9.2 km/s
2033-11-27 05:54:00 Earth 0.1224 AU 47.6 LD 6.1 km/s
2034-05-11 00:08:00 Earth 0.2363 AU 92.0 LD 8.6 km/s
2039-11-17 17:42:00 Earth 0.1971 AU 76.7 LD 13.2 km/s
2040-07-02 13:07:00 Earth 0.3154 AU 122.7 LD 9.9 km/s
2041-03-01 13:43:00 Earth 0.2708 AU 105.4 LD 13.4 km/s
2041-04-24 19:25:00 Venus 0.0961 AU 37.4 LD 12.2 km/s
2045-08-19 02:20:00 Venus 0.0462 AU 18.0 LD 9 km/s

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

Sources