2012 VS76 is an asteroid in the Aten orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.61 AU to 1.37 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 360.3 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 0.64 AU
- True anomaly
- 325.2°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.196 AU
- As of
- 2 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
- 12h 33m 22s
- Declination
- -04° 02′ 26″
- Constellation
- Virgo
- Distance from Earth
- 1.2 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 31.9° — 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
- 0.991 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.3862
- Inclination
- 0.81°
- Orbital period
- 360.3 days
- Perihelion
- 0.608 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.374 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 241.97°
- Argument of periapsis
- 284.83°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · ATE
- Aten
- Earth MOID · 0.7 LD
- 0.0019 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 6.056
Orbit quality
Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 6).
- Observations used
- 61
- Data arc
- 3 days
- First observed
- 13 November 2012
- Last observed
- 16 November 2012
- Residual RMS
- 0.44 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 15 April 2021
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 27
Discovery & classification
Listed by JPL impact monitoring; see the Sentry table for current probabilities.
Close approaches 65 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2061-07-24 02:17 UTC close approach of 2012 VS76. Catalogue miss distance 178.1 LD · 6.85 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2061-07-21 to 2061-07-27, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2028-10-06 12:25:00 | Venus | 0.0887 AU | 34.5 LD | 15.8 km/s |
| 2033-09-12 13:10:00 | Venus | 0.0275 AU | 10.7 LD | 12.3 km/s |
| 2038-08-19 09:54:00 | Venus | 0.0434 AU | 16.9 LD | 10.1 km/s |
| 2045-01-05 03:51:00 | Mars | 0.0948 AU | 36.9 LD | 7.9 km/s |
| 2061-07-24 02:17:00 | Earth | 0.4577 AU | 178.1 LD | 25.4 km/s |
| 2062-07-20 14:37:00 | Earth | 0.3744 AU | 145.7 LD | 22.8 km/s |
| 2063-07-17 03:13:00 | Earth | 0.2904 AU | 113.0 LD | 20.2 km/s |
| 2064-07-12 15:37:00 | Earth | 0.2028 AU | 78.9 LD | 17.5 km/s |
| 2065-07-09 09:00:00 | Earth | 0.1157 AU | 45.0 LD | 14.9 km/s |
| 2066-07-06 12:16:00 | Earth | 0.031 AU | 12.1 LD | 12.4 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