2017 AH3 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.9 AU to 1.14 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 377.1 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 0.907 AU
- True anomaly
- 21.36°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.515 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
- 17h 04m 19s
- Declination
- -21° 46′ 07″
- Constellation
- Ophiuchus
- Distance from Earth
- 1.51 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 35.19° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn
Favours the southern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far north.
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
- 1.021 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.1188
- Inclination
- 17.77°
- Orbital period
- 377.1 days
- Perihelion
- 0.9 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.143 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 290.67°
- Argument of periapsis
- 343.69°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 43.6 LD
- 0.1121 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.932
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).
- Observations used
- 50
- Data arc
- 741 days
- First observed
- 10 January 2016
- Last observed
- 20 January 2018
- Residual RMS
- 0.5 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 15 April 2021
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 23.3
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 91 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2046-02-17 02:31 UTC close approach of 2017 AH3. Catalogue miss distance 151.4 LD · 5.82 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2046-02-14 to 2046-02-20, 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.
| When (UTC) | Body | Distance | Lunar distances | Relative speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2046-02-17 02:31:00 | Earth | 0.3889 AU | 151.4 LD | 14 km/s |
| 2047-02-06 07:59:00 | Earth | 0.252 AU | 98.1 LD | 11 km/s |
| 2047-05-19 23:37:00 | Earth | 0.3068 AU | 119.4 LD | 11 km/s |
| 2048-01-23 02:53:00 | Earth | 0.1626 AU | 63.3 LD | 9.8 km/s |
| 2048-06-22 05:42:00 | Earth | 0.1774 AU | 69.0 LD | 10.6 km/s |
| 2049-01-06 21:16:00 | Earth | 0.1664 AU | 64.7 LD | 9.6 km/s |
| 2049-07-18 22:32:00 | Earth | 0.1141 AU | 44.4 LD | 10.4 km/s |
| 2049-12-20 03:46:00 | Earth | 0.2432 AU | 94.6 LD | 9.7 km/s |
| 2050-08-13 00:22:00 | Earth | 0.2158 AU | 84.0 LD | 11.7 km/s |
| 2051-09-06 05:09:00 | Earth | 0.3716 AU | 144.6 LD | 14.6 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