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Asteroid Near-Earth

2017 FW90

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(2017 FW90)

2017 FW90 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.88 AU to 1.18 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 383.7 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 13 February 2023.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.132 AU
True anomaly
137.02°
Distance from Earth
2.112 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 2017 FW90 — 1.132 AU from the Sun 2017 FW90
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2017 FW90 is 2.112 AU from Earth today (17.6 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
15h 02m 45s
Declination
-18° 27′ 20″
Constellation
Libra
Distance from Earth
2.11 AU
Elongation from the Sun
6.35° — too close to the Sun to observe

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
1.033 AU
Eccentricity
0.146
Inclination
3.17°
Orbital period
383.7 days
Perihelion
0.882 AU
Aphelion
1.184 AU
Longitude of ascending node
10.4°
Argument of periapsis
85.86°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · APO
Apollo
Earth MOID · 0.0 LD
0.0001 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
5.916

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 4).

Observations used
86
Data arc
34 days
First observed
23 March 2017
Last observed
26 April 2017
Residual RMS
0.51 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
13 February 2023

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
28.14

Discovery & classification

Listed by JPL impact monitoring; see the Sentry table for current probabilities.

Apollo Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 43 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2017 FW90 at 2034-09-08 10:41 UTC Sun 193.5 LD · 7.44 × 10⁷ km 2034-09-08 10:41 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2034-09-08 10:41 UTC close approach of 2017 FW90. Catalogue miss distance 193.5 LD · 7.44 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2034-09-05 to 2034-09-11, 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. 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
2034-09-08 10:41:00 Earth 0.4973 AU 193.5 LD 18.7 km/s
2035-09-23 20:43:00 Earth 0.1882 AU 73.2 LD 9.6 km/s
2036-08-31 07:48:00 Earth 0.1193 AU 46.4 LD 2.7 km/s
2036-11-25 18:27:00 Earth 0.1008 AU 39.2 LD 3.3 km/s
2037-06-05 09:54:00 Earth 0.1694 AU 65.9 LD 3.9 km/s
2038-03-25 06:24:00 Earth 0.0544 AU 21.2 LD 5.7 km/s
2039-04-10 13:47:00 Earth 0.3839 AU 149.4 LD 15.3 km/s
2055-09-24 21:12:00 Earth 0.1855 AU 72.2 LD 9.5 km/s
2056-08-24 05:25:00 Earth 0.131 AU 51.0 LD 3 km/s
2056-12-06 00:47:00 Earth 0.1063 AU 41.4 LD 3.5 km/s

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

Sources