2020 SM4 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.76 AU to 1.3 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 383.3 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.264 AU
- True anomaly
- 204.09°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.599 AU
- As of
- 3 November 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.
In the sky
- Right ascension
- 18h 17m 44s
- Declination
- -19° 58′ 49″
- Constellation
- Sagittarius
- Distance from Earth
- 1.6 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 51.97° — 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.
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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
- 1.033 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.2617
- Inclination
- 5.92°
- Orbital period
- 383.3 days
- Perihelion
- 0.762 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.303 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 179.1°
- Argument of periapsis
- 288.56°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2459115.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 6.5 LD
- 0.0167 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.894
Orbit quality
Orbit very uncertain — the object may be effectively lost (uncertainty code 8).
- Observations used
- 12
- Data arc
- 2 days
- First observed
- 22 September 2020
- Last observed
- 24 September 2020
- Residual RMS
- 0.37 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 15 April 2021
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 27.7
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 31 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2060-09-14 12:41 UTC close approach of 2020 SM4. Catalogue miss distance 147.9 LD · 5.69 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2060-09-11 to 2060-09-17, 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.
| When (UTC) | Body | Distance | Lunar distances | Relative speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2060-09-14 12:41:00 | Earth | 0.3801 AU | 147.9 LD | 19 km/s |
| 2061-09-28 13:41:00 | Earth | 0.0681 AU | 26.5 LD | 9.8 km/s |
| 2065-01-15 03:43:00 | Venus | 0.1148 AU | 44.7 LD | 3.6 km/s |
| 2065-04-13 05:06:00 | Earth | 0.0452 AU | 17.6 LD | 8.2 km/s |
| 2066-04-30 06:31:00 | Earth | 0.3245 AU | 126.3 LD | 17.2 km/s |
Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.
Sources
- visual properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- orbital elements: JPL SBDB