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Asteroid Near-Earth

2020 BL11

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(2020 BL11)

2020 BL11 is an asteroid in the Aten orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.98 AU to 1 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 359.2 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.997 AU
True anomaly
200.16°
Distance from Earth
0.66 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.

Sun Earth — 0.992 AU from the Sun Earth 2020 BL11 — 0.997 AU from the Sun 2020 BL11
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2020 BL11 is 0.66 AU from Earth today (5.5 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
10h 18m 40s
Declination
+17° 41′ 21″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
0.66 AU
Elongation from the Sun
71.05° — 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.

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
0.989 AU
Eccentricity
0.0089
Inclination
5.91°
Orbital period
359.2 days
Perihelion
0.98 AU
Aphelion
0.998 AU
Longitude of ascending node
307.98°
Argument of periapsis
290.57°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 2.7 LD
0.0069 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.129

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 3).

Observations used
25
Data arc
7 days
First observed
26 January 2020
Last observed
2 February 2020
Residual RMS
0.29 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
27.8

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 63 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2020 BL11 at 2074-10-10 18:22 UTC Sun 188.2 LD · 7.24 × 10⁷ km 2074-10-10 18:22 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2074-10-10 18:22 UTC close approach of 2020 BL11. Catalogue miss distance 188.2 LD · 7.24 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2074-10-07 to 2074-10-13, 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.

JPL Horizons

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2074-10-10 18:22:00 Earth 0.4837 AU 188.2 LD 15.1 km/s
2075-10-04 10:12:00 Earth 0.3847 AU 149.7 LD 12.1 km/s
2076-09-24 21:41:00 Earth 0.2874 AU 111.9 LD 9.3 km/s
2077-09-12 22:54:00 Earth 0.194 AU 75.5 LD 6.6 km/s
2078-08-28 09:21:00 Earth 0.1084 AU 42.2 LD 4.5 km/s
2079-01-06 18:30:00 Earth 0.1306 AU 50.8 LD 4.5 km/s
2079-08-11 09:08:00 Earth 0.0411 AU 16.0 LD 3.4 km/s
2080-01-18 00:19:00 Earth 0.0688 AU 26.8 LD 3.4 km/s
2080-07-28 19:22:00 Earth 0.0266 AU 10.3 LD 3.1 km/s
2081-01-24 19:46:00 Earth 0.0299 AU 11.6 LD 3.1 km/s

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

Sources