2023 CU is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.84 AU to 1.18 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 371.4 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 2 February 2024.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 0.911 AU
- True anomaly
- 299.18°
- Distance from Earth
- 0.867 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 42m 14s
- Declination
- -22° 55′ 30″
- Constellation
- Sagittarius
- Distance from Earth
- 0.87 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 58.18° — 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
- 1.011 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.1646
- Inclination
- 0.93°
- Orbital period
- 371.4 days
- Perihelion
- 0.845 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.178 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 338.1°
- Argument of periapsis
- 69.99°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 2.0 LD
- 0.0052 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 6.015
Orbit quality
Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 5).
- Observations used
- 106
- Data arc
- 6 days
- First observed
- 9 February 2023
- Last observed
- 15 February 2023
- Residual RMS
- 0.4 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 2 February 2024
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 27.23
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 41 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-02-26 19:39 UTC close approach of 2023 CU. Catalogue miss distance 159.2 LD · 6.12 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-02-23 to 2027-03-01, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2027-02-26 19:39:00 | Earth | 0.4091 AU | 159.2 LD | 17 km/s |
| 2042-03-22 12:25:00 | Venus | 0.1267 AU | 49.3 LD | 1.7 km/s |
| 2065-07-27 14:29:00 | Venus | 0.1413 AU | 55.0 LD | 1.2 km/s |
| 2068-09-17 01:40:00 | Venus | 0.1411 AU | 54.9 LD | 2.2 km/s |
| 2072-07-09 06:14:00 | Earth | 0.4772 AU | 185.7 LD | 18.8 km/s |
| 2073-07-14 05:35:00 | Earth | 0.375 AU | 145.9 LD | 15.7 km/s |
| 2074-07-19 05:10:00 | Earth | 0.2724 AU | 106.0 LD | 12.7 km/s |
| 2075-07-24 01:00:00 | Earth | 0.1705 AU | 66.3 LD | 9.7 km/s |
| 2076-07-27 21:19:00 | Earth | 0.071 AU | 27.6 LD | 6.8 km/s |
| 2077-08-01 03:59:00 | Earth | 0.0221 AU | 8.6 LD | 4.1 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