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Asteroid Near-Earth

2022 UQ20

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(2022 UQ20)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.874 AU
True anomaly
125.26°
Distance from Earth
1.06 AU
As of
16 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 — 0.997 AU from the Sun Earth 2022 UQ20 — 0.874 AU from the Sun 2022 UQ20
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2022 UQ20 is 1.06 AU from Earth today (8.8 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 50m 02s
Declination
-25° 08′ 23″
Constellation
Scorpius
Distance from Earth
1.06 AU
Elongation from the Sun
50.33° — 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
0.795 AU
Eccentricity
0.3617
Inclination
3.21°
Orbital period
259 days
Perihelion
0.508 AU
Aphelion
1.083 AU
Longitude of ascending node
46.42°
Argument of periapsis
143.05°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 1.4 LD
0.0037 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
7.271

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).

Observations used
23
Data arc
2 days
First observed
29 October 2022
Last observed
31 October 2022
Residual RMS
0.56 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
31 October 2022

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
27.34

Discovery & classification

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

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 96 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2022 UQ20 at 2027-05-22 21:31 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-05-22 21:31 UTC close approach of 2022 UQ20. Catalogue miss distance 172.8 LD · 6.64 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-05-19 to 2027-05-25, 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 172.8 LD · 6.64 × 10⁷ km 2027-05-22 21:31 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-05-22 21:31 UTC close approach of 2022 UQ20. Catalogue miss distance 172.8 LD · 6.64 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-05-19 to 2027-05-25, 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
2027-05-22 21:31:00 Earth 0.4439 AU 172.8 LD 14.4 km/s
2027-11-04 18:29:00 Earth 0.2218 AU 86.3 LD 15.7 km/s
2029-09-01 14:29:00 Earth 0.17 AU 66.1 LD 13.6 km/s
2030-02-09 08:07:00 Earth 0.4275 AU 166.4 LD 13.9 km/s
2032-04-28 09:46:00 Earth 0.4803 AU 186.9 LD 17.7 km/s
2032-10-26 19:03:00 Earth 0.4362 AU 169.8 LD 22.7 km/s
2034-04-25 00:33:00 Venus 0.0835 AU 32.5 LD 8.8 km/s
2034-09-07 18:50:00 Earth 0.0595 AU 23.1 LD 7.6 km/s
2035-01-08 16:21:00 Earth 0.3416 AU 132.9 LD 7.4 km/s
2035-03-30 00:14:00 Venus 0.0521 AU 20.3 LD 10.4 km/s

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

Sources