12538
Add to an observing list or journal →12538 (1998 OH)
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.116 AU
- True anomaly
- 292.18°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.553 AU
- As of
- 11 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.
In the sky
- Right ascension
- 10h 06m 25s
- Declination
- -06° 13′ 06″
- Constellation
- Sextans
- Distance from Earth
- 1.55 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 45.72° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn
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.
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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
- 1.542 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.406
- Inclination
- 24.54°
- Orbital period
- 699.1 days
- Perihelion
- 0.916 AU
- Aphelion
- 2.167 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 220.69°
- Argument of periapsis
- 321.79°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 11.2 LD
- 0.0287 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 4.28
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).
- Observations used
- 11,576
- Data arc
- 38.28 years
- First observed
- 22 August 1987
- Last observed
- 1 December 2025
- Residual RMS
- 0.25 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 2 December 2025
Physical properties
- Mean radius
- 0.83 km
- Rotation period
- 2.58 hours
Visual & observation
- Geometric albedo
- 0.232
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 15.96
- Spectral type (SMASS)
- S:
Discovery & classification
- Discovered by
- NEAT
- Discovery date
- 19 July 1998
- Discovery site
- Haleakala
Also known as 1998 OH
Close approaches 12 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2042-05-03 07:22 UTC close approach of 12538. Catalogue miss distance 11.4 LD · 4.37 × 10⁶ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2042-04-30 to 2042-05-06, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2042-05-03 07:22:00 | Earth | 0.0292 AU | 11.4 LD | 15.8 km/s |
| 2065-04-22 23:36:00 | Earth | 0.1159 AU | 45.1 LD | 14.8 km/s |
| 2109-05-08 12:48:00 | Earth | 0.0701 AU | 27.3 LD | 16.6 km/s |
| 2132-05-02 06:52:00 | Earth | 0.0317 AU | 12.3 LD | 15.6 km/s |
| 2155-04-17 12:13:00 | Earth | 0.1841 AU | 71.6 LD | 14.7 km/s |
| 2176-05-13 19:34:00 | Earth | 0.1444 AU | 56.2 LD | 17.8 km/s |
| 2199-05-02 14:03:00 | Earth | 0.0348 AU | 13.6 LD | 15.6 km/s |
Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.
Sources
- visual properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- physical properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- physical properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- visual properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- visual properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- orbital elements: JPL SBDB