2020 PP is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.94 AU to 1.12 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 380.4 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 3 December 2023.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.115 AU
- True anomaly
- 166.09°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.23 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
- 18h 45m 39s
- Declination
- -17° 50′ 40″
- Constellation
- Sagittarius
- Distance from Earth
- 1.23 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 59.01° — 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.
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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
- 1.027 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.0882
- Inclination
- 14.46°
- Orbital period
- 380.4 days
- Perihelion
- 0.937 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.118 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 308°
- Argument of periapsis
- 216.81°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 12.4 LD
- 0.0318 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.921
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).
- Observations used
- 195
- Data arc
- 6.03 years
- First observed
- 21 November 2017
- Last observed
- 3 December 2023
- Residual RMS
- 0.5 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 3 December 2023
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 20.84
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 83 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2045-01-01 11:36 UTC close approach of 2020 PP. Catalogue miss distance 132.1 LD · 5.08 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2044-12-29 to 2045-01-04, 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.
| When (UTC) | Body | Distance | Lunar distances | Relative speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2045-01-01 11:36:00 | Earth | 0.3396 AU | 132.1 LD | 14.4 km/s |
| 2046-01-19 19:05:00 | Earth | 0.0874 AU | 34.0 LD | 8.9 km/s |
| 2046-08-16 12:42:00 | Earth | 0.1908 AU | 74.3 LD | 7.6 km/s |
| 2047-02-14 11:44:00 | Earth | 0.1692 AU | 65.8 LD | 8.5 km/s |
| 2047-07-25 00:20:00 | Earth | 0.0826 AU | 32.2 LD | 7.8 km/s |
| 2048-07-15 05:37:00 | Earth | 0.2647 AU | 103.0 LD | 11.4 km/s |
| 2049-07-16 16:24:00 | Earth | 0.4947 AU | 192.5 LD | 17.4 km/s |
| 2069-12-27 10:37:00 | Earth | 0.4267 AU | 166.0 LD | 16.7 km/s |
| 2071-01-13 08:48:00 | Earth | 0.1736 AU | 67.5 LD | 10.5 km/s |
| 2071-08-31 01:02:00 | Earth | 0.2491 AU | 96.9 LD | 7.6 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