Even though the asteroid was in the night sky for months, it was fainter than the sky survey limit of apparent magnitude 24 until 29 October 2019 when the asteroid was two million km from Earth.
[8][9] 2020 QG and 2011 CQ1 are the only asteroids known where the nominal orbit passed closer to the surface of Earth.
The close approach to Earth lifted the asteroid's aphelion point (furthest distance from the Sun) from 1.33 AU (inside the orbit of Mars) to 2.06 AU (near the edge of the inner asteroid belt).
The approach changed the orbit from an Aten asteroid with a semi-major axis less than 1 AU to an Apollo asteroid with a semi-major axis greater than that of the Earth (> 1 AU).
There is a small chance the asteroid will pass 0.0001 AU (15,000 km) from Mars on 26 October 2023.