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Asteroid Near-Earth

2020 DW

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(2020 DW)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.722 AU
True anomaly
336.73°
Distance from Earth
1.358 AU
As of
19 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 — 0.996 AU from the Sun Earth 2020 DW — 0.722 AU from the Sun 2020 DW
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2020 DW is 1.358 AU from Earth today (11.3 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
15h 44m 55s
Declination
-19° 49′ 34″
Constellation
Libra
Distance from Earth
1.35 AU
Elongation from the Sun
31.33° — 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.

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
0.858 AU
Eccentricity
0.1689
Inclination
0.06°
Orbital period
290.3 days
Perihelion
0.713 AU
Aphelion
1.003 AU
Longitude of ascending node
92.56°
Argument of periapsis
213.73°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 0.1 LD
0.0002 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.865

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 5).

Observations used
51
Data arc
3 days
First observed
16 February 2020
Last observed
19 February 2020
Residual RMS
0.44 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
30.4

Discovery & classification

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

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 72 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2020 DW at 2027-09-20 13:41 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-09-20 13:41 UTC close approach of 2020 DW. Catalogue miss distance 99.5 LD · 3.82 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-09-17 to 2027-09-23, 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. Sun 99.5 LD · 3.82 × 10⁷ km 2027-09-20 13:41 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-09-20 13:41 UTC close approach of 2020 DW. Catalogue miss distance 99.5 LD · 3.82 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-09-17 to 2027-09-23, 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.

JPL Horizons

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2027-09-20 13:41:00 Earth 0.2556 AU 99.5 LD 6.6 km/s
2028-02-25 18:05:00 Earth 0.2191 AU 85.3 LD 10.8 km/s
2031-06-14 10:17:00 Venus 0.1464 AU 57.0 LD 2.8 km/s
2031-08-23 07:51:00 Earth 0.2908 AU 113.2 LD 8.3 km/s
2031-09-02 02:37:00 Venus 0.0671 AU 26.1 LD 6.6 km/s
2032-02-20 17:09:00 Earth 0.3822 AU 148.7 LD 16.1 km/s
2035-08-01 17:22:00 Earth 0.302 AU 117.5 LD 8.8 km/s
2039-01-02 21:32:00 Earth 0.4597 AU 178.9 LD 18.6 km/s
2039-07-11 13:51:00 Earth 0.2989 AU 116.3 LD 8.6 km/s
2042-12-28 13:19:00 Earth 0.3166 AU 123.2 LD 14 km/s

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

Sources