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Asteroid Near-Earth

2020 WU3

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(2020 WU3)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.177 AU
True anomaly
188.51°
Distance from Earth
1.248 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 WU3 — 1.177 AU from the Sun 2020 WU3
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2020 WU3 is 1.248 AU from Earth today (10.4 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
10h 30m 46s
Declination
+31° 19′ 38″
Constellation
Leo Minor
Distance from Earth
1.25 AU
Elongation from the Sun
62.14° — well clear of the Sun

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
0.877 AU
Eccentricity
0.3506
Inclination
35.18°
Orbital period
299.9 days
Perihelion
0.569 AU
Aphelion
1.184 AU
Longitude of ascending node
61.15°
Argument of periapsis
211.15°
Epoch · J2000
2459176.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 38.5 LD
0.0989 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.563

Orbit quality

Orbit very uncertain — the object may be effectively lost (uncertainty code 8).

Observations used
32
Data arc
2 days
First observed
22 November 2020
Last observed
24 November 2020
Residual RMS
0.39 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
23.3

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 10 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2020 WU3 at 2170-11-23 09:30 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2170-11-23 09:30 UTC close approach of 2020 WU3. Catalogue miss distance 62.0 LD · 2.38 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2170-11-20 to 2170-11-26, 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 62.0 LD · 2.38 × 10⁷ km 2170-11-23 09:30 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2170-11-23 09:30 UTC close approach of 2020 WU3. Catalogue miss distance 62.0 LD · 2.38 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2170-11-20 to 2170-11-26, 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
2170-11-23 09:30:00 Earth 0.1593 AU 62.0 LD 17.7 km/s
2174-11-27 10:34:00 Earth 0.3929 AU 152.9 LD 26.7 km/s
2175-12-11 23:33:00 Earth 0.4716 AU 183.5 LD 18.2 km/s
2176-04-05 00:27:00 Earth 0.4807 AU 187.1 LD 24.9 km/s
2179-11-22 08:33:00 Earth 0.1083 AU 42.1 LD 18.3 km/s
2183-11-30 10:51:00 Earth 0.4786 AU 186.3 LD 29.1 km/s

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

Sources