2024 WF18 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.86 AU to 1.16 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 371.1 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 12 December 2025.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.145 AU
- True anomaly
- 199.72°
- Distance from Earth
- 0.209 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
- 23h 58m 00s
- Declination
- +49° 31′ 04″
- Constellation
- Cassiopeia
- Distance from Earth
- 0.21 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 133.09° — well clear of the Sun
Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.
From your location
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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
- 1.011 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.1444
- Inclination
- 11.53°
- Orbital period
- 371.1 days
- Perihelion
- 0.865 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.157 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 258.57°
- Argument of periapsis
- 300.32°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 26.2 LD
- 0.0672 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 6.003
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).
- Observations used
- 64
- Data arc
- 738 days
- First observed
- 5 December 2023
- Last observed
- 12 December 2025
- Residual RMS
- 0.62 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 12 December 2025
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 24.19
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 46 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2026-11-18 13:59 UTC close approach of 2024 WF18. Catalogue miss distance 75.7 LD · 2.91 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2026-11-15 to 2026-11-21, 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.
| When (UTC) | Body | Distance | Lunar distances | Relative speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-11-18 13:59:00 | Earth | 0.1945 AU | 75.7 LD | 6.5 km/s |
| 2027-05-01 13:18:00 | Earth | 0.191 AU | 74.3 LD | 6.8 km/s |
| 2028-05-25 16:32:00 | Earth | 0.1392 AU | 54.2 LD | 6.9 km/s |
| 2029-06-14 13:57:00 | Earth | 0.0894 AU | 34.8 LD | 7.1 km/s |
| 2030-06-29 12:31:00 | Earth | 0.0915 AU | 35.6 LD | 8 km/s |
| 2031-07-10 17:21:00 | Earth | 0.1581 AU | 61.5 LD | 9.8 km/s |
| 2083-12-26 04:48:00 | Earth | 0.1225 AU | 47.7 LD | 9.2 km/s |
| 2084-12-22 06:51:00 | Earth | 0.0685 AU | 26.7 LD | 7.4 km/s |
| 2085-12-13 15:49:00 | Earth | 0.1009 AU | 39.3 LD | 6.6 km/s |
| 2086-11-29 05:41:00 | Earth | 0.1616 AU | 62.9 LD | 6.5 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