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Asteroid Near-Earth

2026 HO3

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(2026 HO3)

2026 HO3 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.77 AU to 1.28 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 378.3 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 3 June 2026.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.04 AU
True anomaly
107.95°
Distance from Earth
0.85 AU
As of
3 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 2026 HO3 — 1.04 AU from the Sun 2026 HO3
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2026 HO3 is 0.85 AU from Earth today (7.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
10h 02m 07s
Declination
-04° 38′ 25″
Constellation
Sextans
Distance from Earth
0.85 AU
Elongation from the Sun
68.48° — 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
1.024 AU
Eccentricity
0.2464
Inclination
12.68°
Orbital period
378.3 days
Perihelion
0.771 AU
Aphelion
1.276 AU
Longitude of ascending node
181.8°
Argument of periapsis
159.75°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · APO
Apollo
Earth MOID · 67.2 LD
0.1726 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
5.922

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 6).

Observations used
48
Data arc
31 days
First observed
11 April 2026
Last observed
12 May 2026
Residual RMS
0.59 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
3 June 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
23.28

Discovery & classification

Apollo Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 21 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2026 HO3 at 2029-10-18 04:48 UTC Sun 77.0 LD · 2.96 × 10⁷ km 2029-10-18 04:48 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2029-10-18 04:48 UTC close approach of 2026 HO3. Catalogue miss distance 77.0 LD · 2.96 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2029-10-15 to 2029-10-21, 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 south 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
2029-10-18 04:48:00 Earth 0.1978 AU 77.0 LD 10 km/s
2039-01-29 12:09:00 Venus 0.0754 AU 29.4 LD 10.3 km/s
2055-04-26 08:07:00 Earth 0.1815 AU 70.6 LD 8.3 km/s
2058-10-06 01:46:00 Venus 0.066 AU 25.7 LD 9.6 km/s
2058-10-20 00:01:00 Earth 0.197 AU 76.7 LD 9.9 km/s
2078-06-12 20:57:00 Venus 0.0745 AU 29.0 LD 9.1 km/s
2098-02-17 10:30:00 Venus 0.1163 AU 45.3 LD 8.9 km/s
2120-11-25 17:43:00 Venus 0.0816 AU 31.8 LD 10.5 km/s
2140-08-02 08:37:00 Venus 0.0665 AU 25.9 LD 9.8 km/s
2160-04-09 06:28:00 Venus 0.066 AU 25.7 LD 9.4 km/s

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

Sources