2026 KP is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.49 AU to 1.53 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 369.8 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 27 May 2026.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.306 AU
- True anomaly
- 147.2°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.85 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.
In the sky
- Right ascension
- 11h 51m 09s
- Declination
- -02° 10′ 01″
- Constellation
- Virgo
- Distance from Earth
- 1.85 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 42.69° — 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.
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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
- 1.008 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.5151
- Inclination
- 4.06°
- Orbital period
- 369.8 days
- Perihelion
- 0.489 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.528 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 236.22°
- Argument of periapsis
- 124.35°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 1.4 LD
- 0.0037 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.913
Orbit quality
Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).
- Observations used
- 30
- Data arc
- 24 hours
- First observed
- 18 May 2026
- Last observed
- 19 May 2026
- Residual RMS
- 0.39 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 27 May 2026
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 27.02
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 51 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-05-22 20:06 UTC close approach of 2026 KP. Catalogue miss distance 30.7 LD · 1.18 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-05-19 to 2027-05-25, 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.
| When (UTC) | Body | Distance | Lunar distances | Relative speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2027-05-22 20:06:00 | Earth | 0.0788 AU | 30.7 LD | 14 km/s |
| 2028-05-22 11:58:00 | Earth | 0.1545 AU | 60.1 LD | 12 km/s |
| 2031-07-12 06:12:00 | Venus | 0.0425 AU | 16.5 LD | 18.8 km/s |
| 2039-10-23 00:51:00 | Venus | 0.0951 AU | 37.0 LD | 14.4 km/s |
| 2048-10-01 08:33:00 | Venus | 0.0458 AU | 17.8 LD | 19.3 km/s |
| 2051-01-16 13:40:00 | Earth | 0.1439 AU | 56.0 LD | 12.4 km/s |
| 2052-01-18 00:46:00 | Earth | 0.0829 AU | 32.3 LD | 14.5 km/s |
| 2053-01-19 13:27:00 | Earth | 0.0647 AU | 25.2 LD | 16.7 km/s |
| 2053-12-28 10:10:00 | Venus | 0.1309 AU | 50.9 LD | 24.5 km/s |
| 2054-01-22 13:17:00 | Earth | 0.1123 AU | 43.7 LD | 19 km/s |
Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.
Sources
- visual properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- orbital elements: JPL SBDB