2023 VP4 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.85 AU to 1.19 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 376.2 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 12 November 2023.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.111 AU
- True anomaly
- 230.65°
- Distance from Earth
- 0.54 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 51s
- Declination
- -11° 23′ 21″
- Constellation
- Aquarius
- Distance from Earth
- 0.54 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 87.54° — 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
- 1.02 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.1711
- Inclination
- 5.86°
- Orbital period
- 376.2 days
- Perihelion
- 0.845 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.194 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 226.89°
- Argument of periapsis
- 274.73°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 2.7 LD
- 0.0071 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.97
Orbit quality
Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 6).
- Observations used
- 33
- Data arc
- 3 days
- First observed
- 9 November 2023
- Last observed
- 12 November 2023
- Residual RMS
- 0.31 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 12 November 2023
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 28.49
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 31 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-05-17 13:36 UTC close approach of 2023 VP4. Catalogue miss distance 8.14 LD · 3.13 × 10⁶ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-05-14 to 2027-05-20, 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 north 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2027-05-17 13:36:00 | Earth | 0.0209 AU | 8.1 LD | 5.9 km/s |
| 2028-05-28 08:51:00 | Earth | 0.2159 AU | 84.0 LD | 11.5 km/s |
| 2029-06-07 13:32:00 | Earth | 0.4181 AU | 162.7 LD | 17.3 km/s |
| 2052-10-24 15:58:00 | Earth | 0.4666 AU | 181.6 LD | 19.1 km/s |
| 2053-11-03 07:37:00 | Earth | 0.26 AU | 101.2 LD | 13 km/s |
| 2054-11-12 09:42:00 | Earth | 0.0519 AU | 20.2 LD | 7 km/s |
| 2056-08-27 00:09:00 | Earth | 0.2115 AU | 82.3 LD | 4.7 km/s |
| 2057-07-07 18:15:00 | Earth | 0.1862 AU | 72.4 LD | 4 km/s |
| 2058-05-15 16:41:00 | Earth | 0.0237 AU | 9.2 LD | 5.3 km/s |
| 2059-05-27 04:56:00 | Earth | 0.1704 AU | 66.3 LD | 10.2 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