Asteroid Near-Earth

2018 QS1

(2018 QS1)

2018 QS1 is an asteroid in the Aten orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.84 AU to 1.12 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 354.1 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun: 0.918 AU
True anomaly: 71.37°
Distance from Earth: 1.675 AU
As of: 24 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.

Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2018 QS1 is 1.675 AU from Earth today (13.9 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension: 12h 16m 23s
Declination: -00° 53′ 45″
Constellation: Virgo
Distance from Earth: 1.68 AU
Elongation from the Sun: 27.64° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

Visible from both hemispheres.

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.

Paste a location

How do I find my coordinates?

Google Maps on a computer

Right-click the spot where you'll be observing.
The first line of the menu is the coordinates, e.g. 51.50722, -0.12758 — click it and they're copied.
Paste them above.

Google Maps on a phone

Press and hold the spot to drop a pin.
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: 0.98 AU
Eccentricity: 0.1417
Inclination: 25.62°
Orbital period: 354.1 days
Perihelion: 0.841 AU
Aphelion: 1.118 AU
Longitude of ascending node: 150.93°
Argument of periapsis: 291.55°
Epoch · J2000: 2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE: Aten
Earth MOID · 0.4 LD: 0.001 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter): 6.087

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).

Observations used: 9
Data arc: 24 hours
First observed: 23 August 2018
Last observed: 24 August 2018
Residual RMS: 0.58 ″
Solution · Otto Matic: 15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H): 27.6

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 26 on record

Flyby geometry

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2051-08-17 20:49 UTC close approach of 2018 QS1. Catalogue miss distance 86.0 LD · 3.31 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2051-08-14 to 2051-08-20, 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
2051-08-17 20:49:00	Earth	0.2211 AU	86.0 LD	16.5 km/s
2052-08-10 02:36:00	Earth	0.4079 AU	158.7 LD	20.5 km/s
2111-08-26 12:10:00	Earth	0.0225 AU	8.8 LD	13.3 km/s
2112-08-20 11:25:00	Earth	0.1565 AU	60.9 LD	15.4 km/s
2113-08-14 07:45:00	Earth	0.3355 AU	130.5 LD	18.9 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