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Asteroid Near-Earth

2018 WH1

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(2018 WH1)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.893 AU
True anomaly
110.93°
Distance from Earth
0.244 AU
As of
19 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 — 0.996 AU from the Sun Earth 2018 WH1 — 0.893 AU from the Sun 2018 WH1
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2018 WH1 is 0.244 AU from Earth today (2.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
17h 36m 52s
Declination
-36° 58′ 08″
Constellation
Scorpius
Distance from Earth
0.24 AU
Elongation from the Sun
59.02° — 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
0.865 AU
Eccentricity
0.157
Inclination
4.75°
Orbital period
293.6 days
Perihelion
0.729 AU
Aphelion
1 AU
Longitude of ascending node
64.31°
Argument of periapsis
198.05°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 1.1 LD
0.0029 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.821

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 5).

Observations used
70
Data arc
16 days
First observed
27 November 2018
Last observed
13 December 2018
Residual RMS
0.56 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
28.6

Discovery & classification

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

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 37 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2018 WH1 at 2026-11-17 02:52 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2026-11-17 02:52 UTC close approach of 2018 WH1. Catalogue miss distance 67.2 LD · 2.58 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2026-11-14 to 2026-11-20, 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. Sun 67.2 LD · 2.58 × 10⁷ km 2026-11-17 02:52 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2026-11-17 02:52 UTC close approach of 2018 WH1. Catalogue miss distance 67.2 LD · 2.58 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2026-11-14 to 2026-11-20, 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
2026-11-17 02:52:00 Earth 0.1727 AU 67.2 LD 9.1 km/s
2027-04-12 22:44:00 Earth 0.2304 AU 89.7 LD 5.9 km/s
2030-11-17 17:16:00 Earth 0.206 AU 80.2 LD 10.1 km/s
2031-04-19 17:48:00 Earth 0.2401 AU 93.5 LD 6.4 km/s
2034-08-29 05:12:00 Venus 0.0743 AU 28.9 LD 6.4 km/s
2034-11-18 08:58:00 Earth 0.2483 AU 96.6 LD 11.5 km/s
2038-11-20 16:43:00 Earth 0.326 AU 126.9 LD 14 km/s
2039-05-12 08:03:00 Earth 0.267 AU 103.9 LD 7.7 km/s
2042-11-23 07:17:00 Earth 0.4047 AU 157.5 LD 16.5 km/s
2043-05-25 11:03:00 Earth 0.2782 AU 108.3 LD 8.3 km/s

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

Sources