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Asteroid Near-Earth Potentially hazardous

2020 JU

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(2020 JU)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.016 AU
True anomaly
197.06°
Distance from Earth
1.793 AU
As of
22 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 — 0.995 AU from the Sun Earth 2020 JU — 1.016 AU from the Sun 2020 JU
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2020 JU is 1.793 AU from Earth today (14.9 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
15h 37m 48s
Declination
-18° 58′ 05″
Constellation
Libra
Distance from Earth
1.79 AU
Elongation from the Sun
27.18° — 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.

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
0.939 AU
Eccentricity
0.0862
Inclination
10.7°
Orbital period
332.3 days
Perihelion
0.858 AU
Aphelion
1.02 AU
Longitude of ascending node
259.03°
Argument of periapsis
167.1°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 0.9 LD
0.0022 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.374

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 3).

Observations used
303
Data arc
184 days
First observed
5 May 2020
Last observed
5 November 2020
Residual RMS
0.34 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
1 March 2023

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
20.83

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object Potentially Hazardous Asteroid

Close approaches 101 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2020 JU at 2029-05-21 08:41 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2029-05-21 08:41 UTC close approach of 2020 JU. Catalogue miss distance 188.1 LD · 7.23 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2029-05-18 to 2029-05-24, 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 south of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. Sun 188.1 LD · 7.23 × 10⁷ km 2029-05-21 08:41 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2029-05-21 08:41 UTC close approach of 2020 JU. Catalogue miss distance 188.1 LD · 7.23 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2029-05-18 to 2029-05-24, 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 south 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
2029-05-21 08:41:00 Earth 0.4833 AU 188.1 LD 15.4 km/s
2029-12-21 11:15:00 Venus 0.1425 AU 55.5 LD 8.6 km/s
2030-01-11 04:52:00 Earth 0.1453 AU 56.5 LD 6.6 km/s
2030-06-11 14:19:00 Earth 0.0415 AU 16.1 LD 5.9 km/s
2039-05-22 04:38:00 Earth 0.4108 AU 159.9 LD 13.3 km/s
2039-12-25 01:05:00 Earth 0.128 AU 49.8 LD 6.7 km/s
2040-06-12 12:12:00 Earth 0.1277 AU 49.7 LD 7.2 km/s
2049-05-24 16:53:00 Earth 0.2982 AU 116.0 LD 10.1 km/s
2049-11-30 07:48:00 Earth 0.1378 AU 53.6 LD 6.8 km/s
2050-06-12 19:05:00 Earth 0.2456 AU 95.6 LD 10 km/s

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

Sources