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Asteroid Near-Earth

2020 AW

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(2020 AW)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.722 AU
True anomaly
284.53°
Distance from Earth
1.718 AU
As of
16 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.

Sun Earth — 0.997 AU from the Sun Earth 2020 AW — 0.722 AU from the Sun 2020 AW
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2020 AW is 1.718 AU from Earth today (14.3 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
13h 26m 44s
Declination
-09° 14′ 30″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
1.71 AU
Elongation from the Sun
0.61° — too close to the Sun to observe

Visible from both hemispheres.

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
0.808 AU
Eccentricity
0.234
Inclination
0.36°
Orbital period
265.4 days
Perihelion
0.619 AU
Aphelion
0.997 AU
Longitude of ascending node
321.11°
Argument of periapsis
315.83°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 1.1 LD
0.0028 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
7.204

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).

Observations used
24
Data arc
3 days
First observed
3 January 2020
Last observed
6 January 2020
Residual RMS
0.61 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
13 October 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
28.73

Discovery & classification

Listed by JPL impact monitoring; see the Sentry table for current probabilities.

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 64 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2020 AW at 2028-01-18 19:24 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2028-01-18 19:24 UTC close approach of 2020 AW. Catalogue miss distance 3.64 LD · 1.4 × 10⁶ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2028-01-15 to 2028-01-21, 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. At closest approach the object is north of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. Sun 16 Jan 21 Jan 3.64 LD · 1.4 × 10⁶ km 2028-01-18 19:24 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2028-01-18 19:24 UTC close approach of 2020 AW. Catalogue miss distance 3.64 LD · 1.4 × 10⁶ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2028-01-15 to 2028-01-21, 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. At closest approach the object is north of the ecliptic. 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
2028-01-18 15:15:00 Moon 0.0081 AU 3.2 LD 4.4 km/s
2028-01-18 19:24:00 Earth 0.0094 AU 3.6 LD 4.9 km/s
2029-01-10 12:34:00 Venus 0.1002 AU 39.0 LD 7.2 km/s
2032-12-03 06:11:00 Earth 0.1845 AU 71.8 LD 10.9 km/s
2045-12-02 21:40:00 Earth 0.103 AU 40.1 LD 8.1 km/s
2048-08-07 04:43:00 Earth 0.3771 AU 146.8 LD 11.3 km/s
2049-01-16 04:16:00 Earth 0.4571 AU 177.9 LD 20 km/s
2050-12-10 14:24:00 Earth 0.3959 AU 154.1 LD 18 km/s
2054-01-25 21:07:00 Earth 0.1613 AU 62.8 LD 10.1 km/s

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

Sources