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Asteroid Near-Earth

2010 VU98

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(2010 VU98)

2010 VU98 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.74 AU to 1.28 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 371.3 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.754 AU
True anomaly
336.5°
Distance from Earth
1.6 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.

Sun Earth — 0.992 AU from the Sun Earth 2010 VU98 — 0.754 AU from the Sun 2010 VU98
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2010 VU98 is 1.6 AU from Earth today (13.3 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 00m 55s
Declination
-18° 28′ 11″
Constellation
Libra
Distance from Earth
1.6 AU
Elongation from the Sun
20.46° — 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
1.011 AU
Eccentricity
0.2671
Inclination
6.97°
Orbital period
371.3 days
Perihelion
0.741 AU
Aphelion
1.281 AU
Longitude of ascending node
229.36°
Argument of periapsis
63.21°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · APO
Apollo
Earth MOID · 11.2 LD
0.0288 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
5.99

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).

Observations used
37
Data arc
18 days
First observed
10 November 2010
Last observed
28 November 2010
Residual RMS
0.61 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
24.8

Discovery & classification

Apollo Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 52 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2030-11-19 14:48:00 Venus 0.0632 AU 24.6 LD 8.7 km/s

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

Sources