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Asteroid Near-Earth

2020 HT3

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(2020 HT3)

2020 HT3 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.89 AU to 1.18 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 384.4 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.161 AU
True anomaly
154.81°
Distance from Earth
1.897 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 HT3 — 1.161 AU from the Sun 2020 HT3
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2020 HT3 is 1.897 AU from Earth today (15.8 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 46m 54s
Declination
-19° 06′ 43″
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Distance from Earth
1.9 AU
Elongation from the Sun
30.61° — 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
1.035 AU
Eccentricity
0.1397
Inclination
5.47°
Orbital period
384.4 days
Perihelion
0.89 AU
Aphelion
1.179 AU
Longitude of ascending node
202.83°
Argument of periapsis
280.21°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · APO
Apollo
Earth MOID · 3.0 LD
0.0077 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
5.908

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 5).

Observations used
219
Data arc
33 days
First observed
21 April 2020
Last observed
24 May 2020
Residual RMS
0.35 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
25.3

Discovery & classification

Apollo Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 29 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2020 HT3 at 2037-10-18 01:36 UTC Sun 121.5 LD · 4.67 × 10⁷ km 2037-10-18 01:36 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2037-10-18 01:36 UTC close approach of 2020 HT3. Catalogue miss distance 121.5 LD · 4.67 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2037-10-15 to 2037-10-21, 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. 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
2037-10-18 01:36:00 Earth 0.3123 AU 121.5 LD 13.3 km/s
2038-10-28 21:03:00 Earth 0.0309 AU 12.0 LD 4.2 km/s
2039-07-29 01:04:00 Earth 0.1936 AU 75.3 LD 4 km/s
2040-04-13 13:44:00 Moon 0.01 AU 3.9 LD 4.4 km/s
2040-04-15 02:39:00 Earth 0.01 AU 3.9 LD 4.5 km/s
2041-05-02 00:27:00 Earth 0.2806 AU 109.2 LD 12.3 km/s
2059-10-12 14:53:00 Earth 0.3483 AU 135.5 LD 14.4 km/s
2060-10-24 03:30:00 Earth 0.0602 AU 23.4 LD 6.1 km/s
2063-04-24 09:45:00 Earth 0.1145 AU 44.5 LD 7.6 km/s
2064-05-08 02:34:00 Earth 0.3932 AU 153.0 LD 15.6 km/s

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

Sources