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Asteroid Near-Earth

2020 YK3

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(2020 YK3)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.919 AU
True anomaly
133.17°
Distance from Earth
0.362 AU
As of
17 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 YK3 — 0.919 AU from the Sun 2020 YK3
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2020 YK3 is 0.362 AU from Earth today (3.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
09h 13m 30s
Declination
+10° 17′ 43″
Constellation
Cancer
Distance from Earth
0.36 AU
Elongation from the Sun
67.71° — 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
0.82 AU
Eccentricity
0.2203
Inclination
2.59°
Orbital period
271.4 days
Perihelion
0.64 AU
Aphelion
1.001 AU
Longitude of ascending node
102.96°
Argument of periapsis
169.38°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 2.7 LD
0.0069 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
7.116

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).

Observations used
25
Data arc
16 days
First observed
22 December 2020
Last observed
7 January 2021
Residual RMS
0.48 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
28 July 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
27.17

Discovery & classification

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

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 23 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2020 YK3 at 2040-11-27 03:01 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2040-11-27 03:01 UTC close approach of 2020 YK3. Catalogue miss distance 72.8 LD · 2.8 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2040-11-24 to 2040-11-30, 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 72.8 LD · 2.8 × 10⁷ km 2040-11-27 03:01 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2040-11-27 03:01 UTC close approach of 2020 YK3. Catalogue miss distance 72.8 LD · 2.8 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2040-11-24 to 2040-11-30, 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
2030-03-06 05:04:00 Venus 0.024 AU 9.3 LD 8.5 km/s
2040-11-27 03:01:00 Earth 0.1869 AU 72.8 LD 10.6 km/s
2045-03-13 19:47:00 Venus 0.0702 AU 27.3 LD 10.6 km/s
2047-01-22 01:32:00 Earth 0.113 AU 44.0 LD 8.2 km/s
2059-01-31 03:19:00 Venus 0.0691 AU 26.9 LD 10.6 km/s
2062-10-17 18:01:00 Venus 0.0239 AU 9.3 LD 6.2 km/s
2063-11-27 18:33:00 Earth 0.068 AU 26.5 LD 6.5 km/s
2066-08-15 12:40:00 Venus 0.0853 AU 33.2 LD 6.1 km/s
2067-01-08 21:40:00 Moon 0.0073 AU 2.8 LD 4 km/s
2067-01-10 03:21:00 Earth 0.0067 AU 2.6 LD 4.6 km/s

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

Sources