2020 XU6
ephemeris	date	magn	radius	delta	ra	dec	elong	phase
Today	17 Mar 2026	27.0	3.424 AU	4.419 AU	23h39m	-02°43'	1.8°	0.5°

The interactive orbit chart above shows the body's path through the solar system and its position at the given date. Green and blue lines are shown perpendicular to the ecliptic plane: Green if the path is above the ecliptic plane, blue if it is below. (Left-click and drag to rotate the view; Right-click and drag to move the view; Use scroll wheel to zoom in our out.)

The orbital elements of 2020 XU6 are:

            e (Eccentricity)                : 0.5476487
            a (Semimajor axis)              : 2.2158400
            i (Inclination)                 : 3.89313
            Ω (Longitude of ascending node) : 164.30968
            ω (Argument of perihelion)      : 6.65669
            M (Mean anomaly)                : 153.41784
            Epoch                           : 2025 Nov 21

            L (Longitude of perihelion)     : 170.95115
            B (Latitude of perihelion)      : 0.45095
            P (Orbital period in years)     : 3.30            
        

The light curve chart below shows the estimated development of the minor planet's magnitude.

The all-sky chart below shows the path of the minor planet over the same period as the light curve. The current position is marked yellow.

The following chart shows the path of the minor planet in the next few days. The field of view is optimized for (~10x50) binoculars and finderscopes.

Ephemerides:

Date       Time       RA (2000)    DEC (2000)    delta   radius  elong  phase   PA    magn
2026-03-17 00:00 UT   23 39 46.9   -02 43 42     4.419    3.424    1.8    0.5   231   27.0 
2026-03-17 22:05 UT   23 40 49.3   -02 37 18     4.418    3.424    2.4    0.7   235   27.1 
2026-03-18 00:00 UT   23 40 54.7   -02 36 45     4.418    3.424    2.5    0.7   235   27.1 
2026-03-19 00:00 UT   23 42 02.5   -02 29 47     4.417    3.424    3.2    0.9   237   27.1 
2026-03-20 00:00 UT   23 43 10.4   -02 22 50     4.416    3.423    3.9    1.1   239   27.1 
2026-03-21 00:00 UT   23 44 18.1   -02 15 52     4.415    3.423    4.5    1.3   240   27.1 
2026-03-22 00:00 UT   23 45 25.9   -02 08 55     4.413    3.422    5.2    1.5   241   27.1 
2026-03-23 00:00 UT   23 46 33.6   -02 01 58     4.412    3.422    5.9    1.7   241   27.2 
2026-03-24 00:00 UT   23 47 41.2   -01 55 01     4.410    3.421    6.6    1.9   242   27.2 
2026-03-25 00:00 UT   23 48 48.9   -01 48 04     4.408    3.421    7.3    2.1   242   27.2 
2026-03-26 00:00 UT   23 49 56.4   -01 41 07     4.405    3.420    8.0    2.3   243   27.2 
2026-03-27 00:00 UT   23 51 03.9   -01 34 11     4.403    3.420    8.7    2.5   243   27.2 
2026-03-28 00:00 UT   23 52 11.4   -01 27 15     4.400    3.419    9.3    2.7   243   27.2 
2026-03-29 00:00 UT   23 53 18.8   -01 20 20     4.397    3.419   10.0    2.9   243   27.2 
2026-03-30 00:00 UT   23 54 26.2   -01 13 25     4.394    3.418   10.7    3.1   244   27.2 
2026-03-31 00:00 UT   23 55 33.4   -01 06 30     4.391    3.418   11.4    3.3   244   27.2 
2026-04-01 00:00 UT   23 56 40.7   +00 59 36     4.388    3.417   12.1    3.5   244   27.3 
2026-04-02 00:00 UT   23 57 47.8   +00 52 43     4.384    3.417   12.8    3.7   244   27.3 
2026-04-03 00:00 UT   23 58 54.9   +00 45 50     4.380    3.416   13.5    3.9   244   27.3 
2026-04-04 00:00 UT   00 00 01.9   +00 38 57     4.376    3.415   14.1    4.1   244   27.3 
2026-04-05 00:00 UT   00 01 08.8   +00 32 05     4.372    3.415   14.8    4.3   244   27.3 
2026-04-06 00:00 UT   00 02 15.7   +00 25 14     4.368    3.414   15.5    4.5   244   27.3 
2026-04-07 00:00 UT   00 03 22.4   +00 18 23     4.363    3.413   16.2    4.7   244   27.3 
2026-04-08 00:00 UT   00 04 29.1   +00 11 33     4.358    3.413   16.9    4.9   245   27.3 
2026-04-09 00:00 UT   00 05 35.7   +00 04 44     4.354    3.412   17.5    5.1   245   27.3 
2026-04-10 00:00 UT   00 06 42.3   +00 02 04     4.348    3.411   18.2    5.3   245   27.3 
2026-04-11 00:00 UT   00 07 48.7   +00 08 52     4.343    3.411   18.9    5.5   245   27.3 
2026-04-12 00:00 UT   00 08 55.0   +00 15 39     4.338    3.410   19.6    5.7   245   27.3 
2026-04-13 00:00 UT   00 10 01.2   +00 22 25     4.332    3.409   20.3    5.9   245   27.4 
2026-04-14 00:00 UT   00 11 07.4   +00 29 09     4.326    3.408   21.0    6.0   245   27.4 

    Terminology:
            
    delta:  distance between minor planet and earth in AU
    radius: distance between minor planet and sun in AU
    magn:   magnitude (brightness) estimate    
    ra:     right ascension in hours (24h = 360deg)
    dec:    declination in degrees
    elong:  elongation in degrees (angle sun-earth-minor planet)    
    phase:  phase angle in degrees (angle sun-minor planet-earth)        
    AU:     Astronomical Unit (mean distance between earth and sun: 149597870.7 km
    

Orbital elements provided by the MPC (Minor Planet Center).
Calculations by a modified version of AAPlus, a C# implementation of the AA+ project by PJ Naughter from the algorithms presented in the book "Astronomical Algorithms" by Jean Meeus.
NGC2000 dso catalog and star labels from VizieR as provided by the Strasbourg astronomical Data Center.
Tycho2 catalog from the ESO archive.