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Asteroid Near-Earth

2026 FT12

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(2026 FT12)

2026 FT12 is an asteroid in the Aten orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.9 AU to 1.05 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 353.8 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 30 March 2026.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.014 AU
True anomaly
121.33°
Distance from Earth
0.456 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.

Sun Earth — 0.994 AU from the Sun Earth 2026 FT12 — 1.014 AU from the Sun 2026 FT12
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2026 FT12 is 0.456 AU from Earth today (3.8 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
08h 41m 17s
Declination
-00° 51′ 55″
Constellation
Hydra
Distance from Earth
0.46 AU
Elongation from the Sun
79.32° — well clear of the Sun

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.

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
0.979 AU
Eccentricity
0.077
Inclination
10.3°
Orbital period
353.8 days
Perihelion
0.904 AU
Aphelion
1.054 AU
Longitude of ascending node
184.3°
Argument of periapsis
111.18°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 1.4 LD
0.0037 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.166

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 5).

Observations used
32
Data arc
2 days
First observed
25 March 2026
Last observed
27 March 2026
Residual RMS
0.57 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
30 March 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
27.67

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 32 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2026 FT12 at 2027-03-21 22:25 UTC Sun 75.5 LD · 2.9 × 10⁷ km 2027-03-21 22:25 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-03-21 22:25 UTC close approach of 2026 FT12. Catalogue miss distance 75.5 LD · 2.9 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-03-18 to 2027-03-24, 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. 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
2027-03-21 22:25:00 Earth 0.194 AU 75.5 LD 10.1 km/s
2054-10-08 03:53:00 Earth 0.0546 AU 21.3 LD 6.4 km/s
2055-08-30 13:28:00 Earth 0.154 AU 59.9 LD 5.6 km/s
2056-03-23 14:12:00 Earth 0.0877 AU 34.1 LD 5.3 km/s
2057-03-24 01:47:00 Earth 0.0984 AU 38.3 LD 7.8 km/s
2085-10-10 00:01:00 Earth 0.064 AU 24.9 LD 6.7 km/s
2086-09-06 10:51:00 Earth 0.1366 AU 53.2 LD 5.7 km/s
2087-03-22 02:22:00 Earth 0.1137 AU 44.2 LD 5.4 km/s
2088-03-24 13:02:00 Earth 0.0688 AU 26.8 LD 7.1 km/s
2116-10-13 15:34:00 Earth 0.0821 AU 31.9 LD 7.1 km/s

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

Sources