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Asteroid Near-Earth

2018 VZ5

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(2018 VZ5)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.001 AU
True anomaly
142.49°
Distance from Earth
0.298 AU
As of
16 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 — 0.997 AU from the Sun Earth 2018 VZ5 — 1.001 AU from the Sun 2018 VZ5
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2018 VZ5 is 0.298 AU from Earth today (2.5 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
08h 08m 29s
Declination
+15° 35′ 40″
Constellation
Cancer
Distance from Earth
0.3 AU
Elongation from the Sun
83.11° — well clear of the Sun

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

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
0.805 AU
Eccentricity
0.4845
Inclination
15.59°
Orbital period
263.9 days
Perihelion
0.415 AU
Aphelion
1.195 AU
Longitude of ascending node
45.64°
Argument of periapsis
212.14°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 10.1 LD
0.0259 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
7.125

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 6).

Observations used
16
Data arc
8 days
First observed
8 November 2018
Last observed
16 November 2018
Residual RMS
0.56 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
24.8

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 175 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2018 VZ5 at 2026-11-21 03:09 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2026-11-21 03:09 UTC close approach of 2018 VZ5. Catalogue miss distance 83.8 LD · 3.22 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2026-11-18 to 2026-11-24, 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 north of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. Sun 83.8 LD · 3.22 × 10⁷ km 2026-11-21 03:09 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2026-11-21 03:09 UTC close approach of 2018 VZ5. Catalogue miss distance 83.8 LD · 3.22 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2026-11-18 to 2026-11-24, 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 north 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
2026-11-21 03:09:00 Earth 0.2154 AU 83.8 LD 12.1 km/s
2030-01-14 22:08:00 Earth 0.2833 AU 110.3 LD 17.6 km/s
2031-11-04 00:49:00 Earth 0.05 AU 19.4 LD 16.3 km/s
2034-12-24 00:30:00 Earth 0.275 AU 107.0 LD 11.9 km/s
2035-05-21 23:06:00 Venus 0.1215 AU 47.3 LD 15.1 km/s
2036-11-13 04:09:00 Earth 0.3795 AU 147.7 LD 26.9 km/s
2038-01-04 15:56:00 Earth 0.4852 AU 188.8 LD 27.3 km/s
2039-09-15 19:19:00 Venus 0.1495 AU 58.2 LD 24.7 km/s
2039-11-16 20:33:00 Earth 0.1912 AU 74.4 LD 12.2 km/s
2042-05-29 00:48:00 Venus 0.1419 AU 55.2 LD 19.1 km/s

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

Sources