Skip to content
Public Universe
Asteroid Near-Earth

2020 YF

Add to an observing list or journal →

(2020 YF)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.903 AU
True anomaly
246.99°
Distance from Earth
1.58 AU
As of
20 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 — 0.996 AU from the Sun Earth 2020 YF — 0.903 AU from the Sun 2020 YF
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2020 YF is 1.58 AU from Earth today (13.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
11h 41m 52s
Declination
+00° 41′ 00″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
1.58 AU
Elongation from the Sun
31.84° — 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
0.871 AU
Eccentricity
0.1376
Inclination
2.54°
Orbital period
297 days
Perihelion
0.751 AU
Aphelion
0.991 AU
Longitude of ascending node
266.05°
Argument of periapsis
346.94°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 0.8 LD
0.002 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.783

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 5).

Observations used
74
Data arc
6 days
First observed
17 December 2020
Last observed
23 December 2020
Residual RMS
0.44 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
28.82

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 111 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2020 YF at 2029-07-14 06:45 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2029-07-14 06:45 UTC close approach of 2020 YF. Catalogue miss distance 95.9 LD · 3.69 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2029-07-11 to 2029-07-17, 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 95.9 LD · 3.69 × 10⁷ km 2029-07-14 06:45 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2029-07-14 06:45 UTC close approach of 2020 YF. Catalogue miss distance 95.9 LD · 3.69 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2029-07-11 to 2029-07-17, 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
2029-07-14 06:45:00 Earth 0.2465 AU 95.9 LD 6.6 km/s
2030-01-01 03:52:00 Earth 0.3271 AU 127.3 LD 13.3 km/s
2030-04-16 09:00:00 Venus 0.0676 AU 26.3 LD 5.4 km/s
2032-09-20 13:47:00 Venus 0.078 AU 30.4 LD 5.4 km/s
2033-11-15 05:49:00 Earth 0.0359 AU 14.0 LD 3.6 km/s
2038-06-06 11:50:00 Earth 0.2599 AU 101.2 LD 7.3 km/s
2042-09-24 05:27:00 Earth 0.1524 AU 59.3 LD 1.4 km/s
2043-01-05 21:03:00 Earth 0.0622 AU 24.2 LD 4.8 km/s
2046-11-12 23:50:00 Earth 0.2981 AU 116.0 LD 12.3 km/s
2047-04-29 06:06:00 Earth 0.2404 AU 93.6 LD 6.3 km/s

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

Sources