2018 GD2 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.85 AU to 1.21 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 382.2 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 28 July 2026.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 0.854 AU
- True anomaly
- 349.99°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.584 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.
In the sky
- Right ascension
- 16h 31m 07s
- Declination
- -27° 04′ 34″
- Constellation
- Scorpius
- Distance from Earth
- 1.58 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 28.51° — 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.
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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
- 1.031 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.1736
- Inclination
- 9.67°
- Orbital period
- 382.2 days
- Perihelion
- 0.852 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.21 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 22.18°
- Argument of periapsis
- 270.76°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 0.0 LD
- 0.0001 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.913
Orbit quality
Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 6).
- Observations used
- 15
- Data arc
- 2 days
- First observed
- 10 April 2018
- Last observed
- 12 April 2018
- Residual RMS
- 0.56 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 28 July 2026
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 29.5
Discovery & classification
Listed by JPL impact monitoring; see the Sentry table for current probabilities.
Close approaches 15 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2040-04-05 19:19 UTC close approach of 2018 GD2. Catalogue miss distance 56.7 LD · 2.18 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2040-04-02 to 2040-04-08, 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.
| When (UTC) | Body | Distance | Lunar distances | Relative speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2040-04-05 19:19:00 | Earth | 0.1458 AU | 56.7 LD | 11.2 km/s |
| 2041-04-19 11:13:00 | Earth | 0.141 AU | 54.9 LD | 5.2 km/s |
| 2043-10-19 09:30:00 | Earth | 0.0785 AU | 30.5 LD | 9.5 km/s |
| 2063-04-15 00:49:00 | Earth | 0.051 AU | 19.8 LD | 6.5 km/s |
| 2065-10-15 23:11:00 | Earth | 0.015 AU | 5.8 LD | 7.9 km/s |
Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.
Sources
- visual properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- orbital elements: JPL SBDB