2020 XW3 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.94 AU to 1.11 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 378.7 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 24 August 2022.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 0.943 AU
- True anomaly
- 348.89°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.304 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
- 17h 50m 19s
- Declination
- -28° 12′ 04″
- Constellation
- Sagittarius
- Distance from Earth
- 1.3 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 46.1° — 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
- 1.024 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.0808
- Inclination
- 7.5°
- Orbital period
- 378.7 days
- Perihelion
- 0.942 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.107 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 75.76°
- Argument of periapsis
- 252.23°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 7.0 LD
- 0.0181 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.956
Orbit quality
Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 6).
- Observations used
- 29
- Data arc
- 10 days
- First observed
- 9 December 2020
- Last observed
- 19 December 2020
- Residual RMS
- 0.46 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 24 August 2022
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 25.68
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 26 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2046-05-12 03:42 UTC close approach of 2020 XW3. Catalogue miss distance 120.7 LD · 4.64 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2046-05-09 to 2046-05-15, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2046-05-12 03:42:00 | Earth | 0.3102 AU | 120.7 LD | 12.4 km/s |
| 2047-05-25 07:30:00 | Earth | 0.088 AU | 34.2 LD | 6.5 km/s |
| 2049-11-20 15:08:00 | Earth | 0.0987 AU | 38.4 LD | 6.4 km/s |
| 2050-11-23 04:58:00 | Earth | 0.315 AU | 122.6 LD | 12.6 km/s |
| 2074-05-07 10:03:00 | Earth | 0.4099 AU | 159.5 LD | 15.2 km/s |
| 2077-11-23 03:42:00 | Earth | 0.0521 AU | 20.3 LD | 5 km/s |
| 2078-11-20 10:05:00 | Earth | 0.2617 AU | 101.8 LD | 10.9 km/s |
| 2104-11-19 23:56:00 | Earth | 0.1544 AU | 60.1 LD | 7.9 km/s |
| 2105-11-24 21:49:00 | Earth | 0.3826 AU | 148.9 LD | 14.5 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