Skip to content
Public Universe
Asteroid Near-Earth

2020 UN1

Add to an observing list or journal →

(2020 UN1)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.637 AU
True anomaly
42.05°
Distance from Earth
1.632 AU
As of
20 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.

Sun Earth — 0.996 AU from the Sun Earth 2020 UN1 — 0.637 AU from the Sun 2020 UN1
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2020 UN1 is 1.632 AU from Earth today (13.6 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
13h 45m 44s
Declination
-10° 35′ 49″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
1.63 AU
Elongation from the Sun
0.95° — too close to the Sun to observe

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.

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
0.872 AU
Eccentricity
0.3148
Inclination
11.16°
Orbital period
297.4 days
Perihelion
0.597 AU
Aphelion
1.146 AU
Longitude of ascending node
33.72°
Argument of periapsis
133.72°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 2.1 LD
0.0055 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.73

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 5).

Observations used
48
Data arc
18 days
First observed
10 October 2020
Last observed
28 October 2020
Residual RMS
0.37 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
25.4

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 179 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2020 UN1 at 2028-07-31 22:03 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2028-07-31 22:03 UTC close approach of 2020 UN1. Catalogue miss distance 140.6 LD · 5.4 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2028-07-28 to 2028-08-03, 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. Sun 140.6 LD · 5.4 × 10⁷ km 2028-07-31 22:03 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2028-07-31 22:03 UTC close approach of 2020 UN1. Catalogue miss distance 140.6 LD · 5.4 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2028-07-28 to 2028-08-03, 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.

JPL Horizons

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2028-07-31 22:03:00 Earth 0.3612 AU 140.6 LD 17.9 km/s
2029-03-16 22:18:00 Earth 0.4061 AU 158.0 LD 15.1 km/s
2029-10-22 19:33:00 Earth 0.268 AU 104.3 LD 17.4 km/s
2033-05-08 22:02:00 Earth 0.3311 AU 128.9 LD 11.7 km/s
2033-10-15 00:12:00 Earth 0.1349 AU 52.5 LD 7.8 km/s
2037-07-21 10:28:00 Earth 0.2028 AU 78.9 LD 10.2 km/s
2038-02-14 15:29:00 Earth 0.4042 AU 157.3 LD 13.7 km/s
2038-03-27 18:20:00 Venus 0.0762 AU 29.7 LD 12.2 km/s
2040-08-25 21:35:00 Venus 0.0909 AU 35.4 LD 9.9 km/s
2042-04-09 03:05:00 Earth 0.3829 AU 149.0 LD 14.4 km/s

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

Sources