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Asteroid Near-Earth

138846

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138846 (2000 VJ61)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.245 AU
True anomaly
290.13°
Distance from Earth
1.74 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.

Orbit of Mercury Orbit of Venus Orbit of Mars Sun Earth — 0.998 AU from the Sun Earth 138846 — 1.245 AU from the Sun 138846
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 138846 is 1.74 AU from Earth today (14.5 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
10h 17m 01s
Declination
+03° 20′ 21″
Constellation
Sextans
Distance from Earth
1.73 AU
Elongation from the Sun
44.55° — 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.

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
2.183 AU
Eccentricity
0.5647
Inclination
18.69°
Orbital period
3.22 years
Perihelion
0.95 AU
Aphelion
3.415 AU
Longitude of ascending node
270.31°
Argument of periapsis
280.7°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · APO
Apollo
Earth MOID · 69.5 LD
0.1786 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.397

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
1,265
Data arc
37.33 years
First observed
10 August 1988
Last observed
9 December 2025
Residual RMS
0.49 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
10 December 2025

Physical properties

Rotation period
2.62 hours

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
16.08

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
LINEAR
Discovery date
2 November 2000
Discovery site
Socorro

Also known as 2000 VJ61

Apollo Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 4 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 138846 at 2088-05-28 17:24 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2088-05-28 17:24 UTC close approach of 138846. Catalogue miss distance 69.0 LD · 2.65 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2088-05-25 to 2088-05-31, 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 south of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. Sun 69.0 LD · 2.65 × 10⁷ km 2088-05-28 17:24 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2088-05-28 17:24 UTC close approach of 138846. Catalogue miss distance 69.0 LD · 2.65 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2088-05-25 to 2088-05-31, 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 south of the ecliptic. 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
2088-05-28 17:24:00 Earth 0.1773 AU 69.0 LD 15.1 km/s
2159-06-02 12:49:00 Earth 0.1936 AU 75.3 LD 16.8 km/s

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

Sources