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Asteroid Near-Earth

McAuliffe

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3352 McAuliffe (1981 CW)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
2.166 AU
True anomaly
227.24°
Distance from Earth
1.369 AU
As of
11 October 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.

Orbit of Mercury Orbit of Venus Orbit of Mars Sun Earth — 0.998 AU from the Sun Earth McAuliffe — 2.166 AU from the Sun McAuliffe
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. McAuliffe is 1.369 AU from Earth today (11.4 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
22h 20m 07s
Declination
-17° 35′ 56″
Constellation
Aquarius
Distance from Earth
1.37 AU
Elongation from the Sun
131.04° — well clear of the Sun

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
1.879 AU
Eccentricity
0.3691
Inclination
4.77°
Orbital period
2.58 years
Perihelion
1.185 AU
Aphelion
2.573 AU
Longitude of ascending node
107.33°
Argument of periapsis
16.11°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · AMO
Amor
Earth MOID · 78.8 LD
0.2025 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.882

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
3,207
Data arc
45.66 years
First observed
6 February 1981
Last observed
5 October 2026
Residual RMS
0.45 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
6 October 2026

Physical properties

Rotation period
2.21 hours

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
15.93
Spectral type (SMASS)
A

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Thomas, N. G.
Discovery date
6 February 1981
Discovery site
Anderson Mesa

Also known as 3352 · 1981 CW

Amor Near-Earth Object Named

Sources