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Asteroid Near-Earth

2011 WS74

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(2011 WS74)

2011 WS74 is an asteroid in the Aten orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.63 AU to 1.32 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 352.4 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.107 AU
True anomaly
130.28°
Distance from Earth
1.315 AU
As of
25 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 — 0.994 AU from the Sun Earth 2011 WS74 — 1.107 AU from the Sun 2011 WS74
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2011 WS74 is 1.315 AU from Earth today (10.9 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
17h 47m 04s
Declination
-34° 07′ 04″
Constellation
Scorpius
Distance from Earth
1.32 AU
Elongation from the Sun
55.24° — 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
0.976 AU
Eccentricity
0.353
Inclination
13.69°
Orbital period
352.4 days
Perihelion
0.632 AU
Aphelion
1.321 AU
Longitude of ascending node
67.47°
Argument of periapsis
118.21°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 8.2 LD
0.021 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.117

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 4).

Observations used
92
Data arc
11 days
First observed
29 November 2011
Last observed
10 December 2011
Residual RMS
0.47 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
23.9

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 108 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2011 WS74 at 2030-08-04 14:25 UTC Sun 163.2 LD · 6.28 × 10⁷ km 2030-08-04 14:25 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2030-08-04 14:25 UTC close approach of 2011 WS74. Catalogue miss distance 163.2 LD · 6.28 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2030-08-01 to 2030-08-07, 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
2030-08-04 14:25:00 Earth 0.4195 AU 163.2 LD 22.8 km/s
2031-06-05 05:35:00 Venus 0.1132 AU 44.0 LD 9.4 km/s
2031-07-24 01:54:00 Earth 0.2478 AU 96.5 LD 16.8 km/s
2032-07-06 15:41:00 Earth 0.1785 AU 69.5 LD 11.7 km/s
2033-06-05 00:44:00 Earth 0.2664 AU 103.7 LD 11.4 km/s
2034-05-04 14:14:00 Earth 0.3496 AU 136.1 LD 13.7 km/s
2034-09-20 04:05:00 Earth 0.4025 AU 156.6 LD 9.1 km/s
2035-04-06 17:20:00 Earth 0.3951 AU 153.8 LD 14.6 km/s
2035-10-17 01:07:00 Earth 0.3784 AU 147.2 LD 9.7 km/s
2036-03-08 10:03:00 Earth 0.3996 AU 155.5 LD 13.3 km/s

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

Sources