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Asteroid Near-Earth

2020 OA5

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(2020 OA5)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.823 AU
True anomaly
287.81°
Distance from Earth
0.385 AU
As of
20 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 OA5 — 0.823 AU from the Sun 2020 OA5
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2020 OA5 is 0.385 AU from Earth today (3.2 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
13h 29m 24s
Declination
+41° 42′ 11″
Constellation
Canes Venatici
Distance from Earth
0.39 AU
Elongation from the Sun
52.65° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

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
0.901 AU
Eccentricity
0.1854
Inclination
20.03°
Orbital period
312.2 days
Perihelion
0.734 AU
Aphelion
1.068 AU
Longitude of ascending node
303.49°
Argument of periapsis
165.02°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 16.7 LD
0.0429 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.546

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 5).

Observations used
36
Data arc
24 hours
First observed
26 July 2020
Last observed
27 July 2020
Residual RMS
0.39 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
26.9

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 145 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2020 OA5 at 2032-02-03 10:38 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2032-02-03 10:38 UTC close approach of 2020 OA5. Catalogue miss distance 96.2 LD · 3.7 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2032-01-31 to 2032-02-06, 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 96.2 LD · 3.7 × 10⁷ km 2032-02-03 10:38 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2032-02-03 10:38 UTC close approach of 2020 OA5. Catalogue miss distance 96.2 LD · 3.7 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2032-01-31 to 2032-02-06, 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
2032-02-03 10:38:00 Earth 0.2471 AU 96.2 LD 13.8 km/s
2032-08-01 10:50:00 Earth 0.2089 AU 81.3 LD 12.9 km/s
2037-07-05 10:12:00 Earth 0.4396 AU 171.1 LD 16 km/s
2038-01-15 14:03:00 Venus 0.0757 AU 29.4 LD 15.1 km/s
2038-01-17 21:58:00 Earth 0.252 AU 98.1 LD 13.9 km/s
2038-08-01 19:45:00 Earth 0.3256 AU 126.7 LD 15.5 km/s
2043-07-09 12:20:00 Earth 0.3407 AU 132.6 LD 13.6 km/s
2044-01-03 13:38:00 Earth 0.275 AU 107.0 LD 13.7 km/s
2044-07-30 13:45:00 Earth 0.4346 AU 169.1 LD 18.4 km/s
2049-07-14 14:40:00 Earth 0.2413 AU 93.9 LD 11.7 km/s

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

Sources