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Asteroid Near-Earth Potentially hazardous

480808

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480808 (1994 XL1)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.023 AU
True anomaly
181.9°
Distance from Earth
0.837 AU
As of
15 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 480808 — 1.023 AU from the Sun 480808
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 480808 is 0.837 AU from Earth today (7.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
09h 13m 39s
Declination
+16° 41′ 34″
Constellation
Cancer
Distance from Earth
0.83 AU
Elongation from the Sun
67.32° — 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
0.671 AU
Eccentricity
0.5262
Inclination
28.17°
Orbital period
200.7 days
Perihelion
0.318 AU
Aphelion
1.024 AU
Longitude of ascending node
252.64°
Argument of periapsis
356.58°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 13.8 LD
0.0356 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
8.294

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
298
Data arc
29 years
First observed
9 December 1994
Last observed
11 December 2023
Residual RMS
0.42 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
12 December 2023

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
20.64

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
McNaught, R. H.
Discovery date
6 December 1994
Discovery site
Siding Spring

Also known as 1994 XL1

Aten Near-Earth Object Potentially Hazardous Asteroid

Close approaches 128 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 480808 at 2027-12-11 14:29 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-12-11 14:29 UTC close approach of 480808. Catalogue miss distance 52.4 LD · 2.01 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-12-08 to 2027-12-14, 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 south of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. Sun 52.4 LD · 2.01 × 10⁷ km 2027-12-11 14:29 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-12-11 14:29 UTC close approach of 480808. Catalogue miss distance 52.4 LD · 2.01 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-12-08 to 2027-12-14, 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 south 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
2027-12-11 14:29:00 Earth 0.1347 AU 52.4 LD 17.5 km/s
2028-11-24 12:13:00 Earth 0.247 AU 96.1 LD 19.6 km/s
2032-12-08 00:05:00 Earth 0.3889 AU 151.3 LD 25.4 km/s
2033-12-03 00:34:00 Earth 0.0515 AU 20.0 LD 15.6 km/s
2034-11-28 14:21:00 Earth 0.4482 AU 174.4 LD 26.7 km/s
2038-12-11 22:09:00 Earth 0.1769 AU 68.8 LD 18.6 km/s
2039-11-25 16:47:00 Earth 0.2065 AU 80.4 LD 18.4 km/s
2043-12-07 08:22:00 Earth 0.4346 AU 169.1 LD 27.1 km/s
2044-12-04 23:18:00 Earth 0.0364 AU 14.2 LD 15.6 km/s
2045-11-27 03:57:00 Earth 0.4055 AU 157.8 LD 25.1 km/s

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

Sources