2023 RW3 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.91 AU to 1.13 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 377.9 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 1 March 2025.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 0.989 AU
- True anomaly
- 282.57°
- Distance from Earth
- 0.691 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
- 19h 28m 00s
- Declination
- -16° 42′ 25″
- Constellation
- Sagittarius
- Distance from Earth
- 0.69 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 69.25° — well clear of the Sun
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
- 1.023 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.1063
- Inclination
- 8.86°
- Orbital period
- 377.9 days
- Perihelion
- 0.914 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.132 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 337.52°
- Argument of periapsis
- 100.78°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 0.6 LD
- 0.0015 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.958
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).
- Observations used
- 36
- Data arc
- 538 days
- First observed
- 8 September 2023
- Last observed
- 27 February 2025
- Residual RMS
- 0.51 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 1 March 2025
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 26.62
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 36 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2052-09-01 10:09 UTC close approach of 2023 RW3. Catalogue miss distance 53.3 LD · 2.05 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2052-08-29 to 2052-09-04, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2052-09-01 10:09:00 | Earth | 0.137 AU | 53.3 LD | 8.1 km/s |
| 2053-08-31 17:33:00 | Earth | 0.0744 AU | 29.0 LD | 4.6 km/s |
| 2054-04-17 08:40:00 | Earth | 0.1943 AU | 75.6 LD | 3.8 km/s |
| 2055-02-27 02:34:00 | Earth | 0.0193 AU | 7.5 LD | 5.7 km/s |
| 2078-09-05 03:13:00 | Earth | 0.0883 AU | 34.4 LD | 6.9 km/s |
| 2079-08-12 00:09:00 | Earth | 0.1492 AU | 58.1 LD | 4.6 km/s |
| 2080-02-21 20:05:00 | Earth | 0.0994 AU | 38.7 LD | 4.7 km/s |
| 2081-03-04 17:06:00 | Earth | 0.1485 AU | 57.8 LD | 8.5 km/s |
| 2104-09-05 00:19:00 | Earth | 0.1055 AU | 41.1 LD | 7.3 km/s |
| 2105-08-19 14:33:00 | Earth | 0.131 AU | 51.0 LD | 4.6 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