2015 VK1 is an asteroid in the Aten orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.56 AU to 1.39 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 352.9 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.384 AU
- True anomaly
- 188.25°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.508 AU
- As of
- 24 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.
In the sky
- Right ascension
- 10h 19m 11s
- Declination
- +21° 33′ 22″
- Constellation
- Leo
- Distance from Earth
- 1.5 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 63.42° — well clear of the Sun
Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.
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
- 0.977 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.4267
- Inclination
- 11.96°
- Orbital period
- 352.9 days
- Perihelion
- 0.56 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.394 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 38.02°
- Argument of periapsis
- 241.99°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · ATE
- Aten
- Earth MOID · 1.0 LD
- 0.0025 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 6.091
Orbit quality
Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).
- Observations used
- 55
- Data arc
- 8 days
- First observed
- 1 November 2015
- Last observed
- 9 November 2015
- Residual RMS
- 0.39 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 15 April 2021
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 26.6
Discovery & classification
Listed by JPL impact monitoring; see the Sentry table for current probabilities.
Close approaches 83 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2042-11-13 02:49 UTC close approach of 2015 VK1. Catalogue miss distance 136.0 LD · 5.23 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2042-11-10 to 2042-11-16, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2042-11-13 02:49:00 | Earth | 0.3494 AU | 136.0 LD | 25.1 km/s |
| 2043-11-05 07:14:00 | Earth | 0.1472 AU | 57.3 LD | 19 km/s |
| 2044-10-29 11:00:00 | Earth | 0.0564 AU | 22.0 LD | 13.2 km/s |
| 2047-12-19 01:54:00 | Earth | 0.4467 AU | 173.8 LD | 11.4 km/s |
| 2049-01-04 18:53:00 | Earth | 0.4649 AU | 180.9 LD | 11.4 km/s |
| 2052-03-16 15:34:00 | Earth | 0.1814 AU | 70.6 LD | 12.2 km/s |
| 2053-03-04 11:49:00 | Earth | 0.2004 AU | 78.0 LD | 18 km/s |
| 2054-02-22 16:52:00 | Earth | 0.3638 AU | 141.6 LD | 24.3 km/s |
| 2070-11-16 23:52:00 | Earth | 0.4371 AU | 170.1 LD | 27.9 km/s |
| 2071-11-08 20:35:00 | Earth | 0.2367 AU | 92.1 LD | 21.6 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