2020 VM6 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.7 AU to 1.35 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 380.2 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 9 December 2025.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.311 AU
- True anomaly
- 159.08°
- Distance from Earth
- 0.863 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
- 20h 39m 32s
- Declination
- -03° 08′ 29″
- Constellation
- Aquarius
- Distance from Earth
- 0.87 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 89.4° — well clear of the Sun
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
- 1.027 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.3148
- Inclination
- 14.01°
- Orbital period
- 380.2 days
- Perihelion
- 0.704 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.35 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 224.81°
- Argument of periapsis
- 336.35°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 71.6 LD
- 0.184 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.885
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 2).
- Observations used
- 81
- Data arc
- 711 days
- First observed
- 13 November 2020
- Last observed
- 25 October 2022
- Residual RMS
- 0.42 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 9 December 2025
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 22.8
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 28 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2045-12-15 14:49 UTC close approach of 2020 VM6. Catalogue miss distance 74.0 LD · 2.85 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2045-12-12 to 2045-12-18, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2029-07-28 05:35:00 | Venus | 0.1406 AU | 54.7 LD | 12.4 km/s |
| 2045-12-15 14:49:00 | Earth | 0.1902 AU | 74.0 LD | 9.9 km/s |
| 2046-04-01 05:51:00 | Venus | 0.1398 AU | 54.4 LD | 16.6 km/s |
| 2059-10-11 10:41:00 | Venus | 0.1036 AU | 40.3 LD | 15.4 km/s |
| 2070-12-20 12:56:00 | Earth | 0.1968 AU | 76.6 LD | 12.3 km/s |
| 2073-04-22 17:29:00 | Venus | 0.0863 AU | 33.6 LD | 14.8 km/s |
| 2086-11-05 02:42:00 | Venus | 0.1019 AU | 39.7 LD | 15.3 km/s |
| 2100-05-21 21:44:00 | Venus | 0.1418 AU | 55.2 LD | 16.7 km/s |
| 2124-04-27 17:27:00 | Venus | 0.1181 AU | 46.0 LD | 12.2 km/s |
| 2137-11-10 23:00:00 | Venus | 0.1028 AU | 40.0 LD | 12.1 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