Skip to content
Public Universe
Asteroid Near-Earth

2020 CD3

Add to an observing list or journal →

(2020 CD3)

2020 CD3 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 1.02 AU to 1.04 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 381.3 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 25 June 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.042 AU
True anomaly
171.97°
Distance from Earth
1.526 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.

Sun Earth — 0.992 AU from the Sun Earth 2020 CD3 — 1.042 AU from the Sun 2020 CD3
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2020 CD3 is 1.526 AU from Earth today (12.7 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
17h 36m 56s
Declination
-23° 37′ 35″
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Distance from Earth
1.53 AU
Elongation from the Sun
42.6° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

Favours the southern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far north.

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
1.029 AU
Eccentricity
0.0124
Inclination
0.63°
Orbital period
381.3 days
Perihelion
1.016 AU
Aphelion
1.042 AU
Longitude of ascending node
82.25°
Argument of periapsis
49.9°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · APO
Apollo
Earth MOID · 8.2 LD
0.0211 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
5.946

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
128
Data arc
742 days
First observed
9 May 2018
Last observed
20 May 2020
Residual RMS
0.64 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
25 June 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
31.74

Discovery & classification

Listed by JPL impact monitoring; see the Sentry table for current probabilities.

Apollo Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 61 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2020 CD3 at 2044-03-20 10:43 UTC Sun 9.51 LD · 3.66 × 10⁶ km 2044-03-20 10:43 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2044-03-20 10:43 UTC close approach of 2020 CD3. Catalogue miss distance 9.51 LD · 3.66 × 10⁶ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2044-03-17 to 2044-03-23, 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.

JPL Horizons

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2044-03-20 10:43:00 Earth 0.0244 AU 9.5 LD 0.2 km/s
2061-08-20 04:39:00 Earth 0.0332 AU 12.9 LD 0.4 km/s
2082-06-12 18:46:00 Moon 0.0053 AU 2.1 LD 0.9 km/s
2082-08-30 00:17:00 Moon 0.0089 AU 3.5 LD 1 km/s
2083-01-26 17:00:00 Moon 0.0057 AU 2.2 LD 1 km/s

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

Sources