Back 2020 QG Afrikaans 2020 QG Spanish 2020 QG Basque 2020 QG French 2020 QG Japanese 2020 QG Swedish 2020 QG Ukrainian 2020 QG Vietnamese 2020 QG Chinese
 2020 QG imaged as a streak of light by the Zwicky Transient Facility on 16 August 2020 | |
| Discovery[1][2] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Zwicky Transient Facility |
| Discovery site | Palomar Obs. |
| Discovery date | 16 August 2020 |
| Designations | |
| 2020 QG | |
| ZTF0DxQ[3] | |
| NEO · Apollo[1] | |
| Orbital characteristics[4] | |
| Epoch 31 May 2020 (JD 2459000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 6 | |
| Observation arc | 1.6 days[1][a] |
| Aphelion | 2.8933±0.0009 AU |
| Perihelion | 0.99628 AU |
| 1.9448±0.0006 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.48772±0.0002 |
| 2.71 yr (990.51±0.47 d) | |
| 337.41±0.011° | |
| 0° 21m 48.696s / day | |
| Inclination | 5.4727±0.004° |
| 143.50° | |
| 1 August 2020 03:43 UT | |
| 162.01±0.003° | |
| Earth MOID | 0.00027 AU (40,000 km) |
| Physical characteristics | |
| ~3 m (est. at ~0.17)[3] 2–14 m (est. at 0.01–0.60)[3] | |
| 29.87±0.25[4] | |
2020 QG, also known by its internal designation ZTF0DxQ,[3] is an Earth-crossing asteroid, a few meters in diameter. It belongs to the Apollo group, and passed above the surface of Earth approximately 2,950 kilometres (1,830 mi) away[b] (less than half an Earth radius) on 16 August 2020 at 04:09 UT.[4] It was first imaged by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) at the Palomar Observatory about 6 hours after this closest approach, and was later identified by Kunal Deshmukh, a student at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, along with colleagues Kritti Sharma, Chen-Yen Hsu and Bryce T. Bolin analyzing images from the ZTF.[5][2]
At the time, 2020 QG passed closer to Earth than any known asteroid, except for those that became meteors. It passed closer than 2011 CQ1 and 2020 JJ.[c] Given an absolute magnitude of 29.8, it is estimated to be around 3–6 metres (10–20 ft) in diameter[3] so similar to Earth-impactors 2008 TC3, 2014 AA, 2018 LA, and 2019 MO.
- ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
MPC-objectwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
MPEC-2020-Q51was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference
NEO-Exchangewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
jpldatawas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Clavin2020was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).