2026 FU is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.88 AU to 1.13 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 367.2 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 22 March 2026.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.104 AU
- True anomaly
- 149.25°
- Distance from Earth
- 0.435 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
- 08h 44m 39s
- Declination
- +19° 52′ 29″
- Constellation
- Cancer
- Distance from Earth
- 0.43 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 93.1° — 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.
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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
- 1.004 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.1218
- Inclination
- 0.84°
- Orbital period
- 367.2 days
- Perihelion
- 0.881 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.126 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 9.91°
- Argument of periapsis
- 265.32°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 0.1 LD
- 0.0003 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 6.056
Orbit quality
Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 5).
- Observations used
- 107
- Data arc
- 5 days
- First observed
- 17 March 2026
- Last observed
- 22 March 2026
- Residual RMS
- 0.42 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 22 March 2026
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 27.6
Discovery & classification
Listed by JPL impact monitoring; see the Sentry table for current probabilities.
Close approaches 43 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-03-23 20:20 UTC close approach of 2026 FU. Catalogue miss distance 11.5 LD · 4.44 × 10⁶ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-03-20 to 2027-03-26, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2027-03-23 20:20:00 | Earth | 0.0297 AU | 11.5 LD | 3.3 km/s |
| 2028-03-04 08:20:00 | Earth | 0.0826 AU | 32.2 LD | 2.4 km/s |
| 2028-04-16 12:27:00 | Earth | 0.0822 AU | 32.0 LD | 2.5 km/s |
| 2029-02-05 01:31:00 | Earth | 0.1179 AU | 45.9 LD | 3.3 km/s |
| 2029-05-17 07:48:00 | Earth | 0.1137 AU | 44.2 LD | 3.6 km/s |
| 2030-01-17 02:58:00 | Earth | 0.1375 AU | 53.5 LD | 3.8 km/s |
| 2030-06-08 09:50:00 | Earth | 0.129 AU | 50.2 LD | 4.1 km/s |
| 2030-12-31 13:19:00 | Earth | 0.146 AU | 56.8 LD | 4 km/s |
| 2031-06-28 13:53:00 | Earth | 0.133 AU | 51.7 LD | 4.3 km/s |
| 2031-12-15 15:12:00 | Earth | 0.1447 AU | 56.3 LD | 4 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