2006 AM4
2006 AM4 is an Aten-type near-Earth asteroid whose orbit lies mostly inside that of Earth, with a semi-major axis of 0.982 AU and a period of 0.97 yr.
Orbit and dynamics
The path is an ellipse reaching 0.345 AU from the Sun at perihelion and 1.62 AU at aphelion, a radial span of 1.275 AU.
Applying Kepler's third law to a = 0.982 AU gives an orbital period of 0.97 yr, or about 356 days.
The high eccentricity (0.649) produces a strongly elongated orbit, so the object spends most of its time far from the Sun.
Its inclination of 4.16° keeps it close to the plane of the ecliptic.
By the vis-viva equation its orbital speed rises to 65.1 km/s at perihelion and falls to 13.9 km/s at aphelion.
Because q < 1 AU and Q > 1 AU, this orbit geometrically intersects the region of Earth's orbit.
Size and surface
No direct size measurement is available; from an absolute magnitude of H = 21.88 and an assumed geometric albedo of 0.14, the diameter works out to roughly 0.15 km.
Observation record and orbit quality
The current orbit solution is based on 191 observations and has a weighted RMS residual of 0.4909 arcseconds.
Condition code U = 0 means the orbit is very well determined, leaving only a small uncertainty in the future ephemeris.
About these computed values
Orbital periods, perihelion and aphelion speeds, and diameter estimates on this page are computed by SpaceAtlas from the JPL SBDB orbital elements. They are derived quantities, not values copied from the source catalogue.
Orbital Parameters
Orbit diagram
The Sun sits at the focus (orange). Earth's orbit is the grey circle at 1 AU. The red dot marks the object's position at the catalog epoch.
3D orbit (interactive)
Drag to rotate; scroll or pinch to zoom. The Sun is at the focus (orange), Earth's orbit is the grey ring at 1 AU, and the red dot marks the object's current position.
Close approaches
Predicted close approaches to Earth, from NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS).
| Date (UTC) | Miss distance | Velocity |
|---|---|---|
| 2027-Oct-26 20:48 | 0.084917 AU 12703389 km |
19.75 km/s |
| 2043-Feb-03 16:45 | 0.078705 AU 11774104 km |
18.85 km/s |
| 2044-Jan-30 08:00 | 0.083253 AU 12454541 km |
23.67 km/s |
| 2062-Nov-01 05:44 | 0.137681 AU 20596738 km |
24.74 km/s |
| 2063-Oct-27 05:18 | 0.083932 AU 12555983 km |
19.82 km/s |
| 2078-Feb-04 11:17 | 0.182497 AU 27301148 km |
16.16 km/s |
| 2079-Feb-02 16:03 | 0.026339 AU 3940285 km |
20.43 km/s |
Distances in astronomical units (AU) and kilometres. Source: NASA/JPL CNEOS Close Approach Data API.
