2026 JC is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.61 AU to 1.43 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 374.1 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 22 May 2026.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.293 AU
- True anomaly
- 212.09°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.499 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
- 18h 41m 10s
- Declination
- -18° 13′ 21″
- Constellation
- Sagittarius
- Distance from Earth
- 1.5 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 58.2° — 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.
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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
- 1.016 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.404
- Inclination
- 5.69°
- Orbital period
- 374.1 days
- Perihelion
- 0.606 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.427 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 224.63°
- Argument of periapsis
- 243.76°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 2.4 LD
- 0.006 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.926
Orbit quality
Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).
- Observations used
- 69
- Data arc
- 16 days
- First observed
- 6 May 2026
- Last observed
- 22 May 2026
- Residual RMS
- 0.39 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 22 May 2026
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 25.09
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 32 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-05-07 06:18 UTC close approach of 2026 JC. Catalogue miss distance 51.4 LD · 1.98 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-05-04 to 2027-05-10, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2027-05-07 06:18:00 | Earth | 0.1322 AU | 51.4 LD | 16 km/s |
| 2028-03-31 11:29:00 | Venus | 0.1281 AU | 49.9 LD | 9.1 km/s |
| 2056-09-13 22:03:00 | Earth | 0.1769 AU | 68.8 LD | 16.8 km/s |
| 2057-09-20 22:06:00 | Earth | 0.0737 AU | 28.7 LD | 12.4 km/s |
| 2058-09-26 23:14:00 | Earth | 0.1581 AU | 61.5 LD | 8 km/s |
| 2067-04-30 10:07:00 | Earth | 0.1239 AU | 48.2 LD | 8.8 km/s |
| 2068-05-02 08:29:00 | Earth | 0.0281 AU | 10.9 LD | 13 km/s |
| 2069-05-09 01:12:00 | Earth | 0.1896 AU | 73.8 LD | 17.7 km/s |
| 2071-03-12 23:17:00 | Venus | 0.1133 AU | 44.1 LD | 10.6 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