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Asteroid Near-Earth

2001 ED18

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(2001 ED18)

2001 ED18 is an asteroid in the Aten orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.93 AU to 1.05 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 359.4 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 14 April 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.008 AU
True anomaly
247.44°
Distance from Earth
1.937 AU
As of
2 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.

Sun Earth — 0.992 AU from the Sun Earth 2001 ED18 — 1.008 AU from the Sun 2001 ED18
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2001 ED18 is 1.937 AU from Earth today (16.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
13h 36m 15s
Declination
-11° 40′ 32″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
1.94 AU
Elongation from the Sun
14.56° — too close to the Sun to observe

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
0.989 AU
Eccentricity
0.0573
Inclination
11.63°
Orbital period
359.4 days
Perihelion
0.933 AU
Aphelion
1.046 AU
Longitude of ascending node
357.76°
Argument of periapsis
306.7°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 9.6 LD
0.0247 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.112

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 6).

Observations used
98
Data arc
5 days
First observed
15 March 2001
Last observed
20 March 2001
Residual RMS
0.42 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
14 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
24.5

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 48 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2001 ED18 at 2055-10-31 21:20 UTC Sun 159.8 LD · 6.14 × 10⁷ km 2055-10-31 21:20 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2055-10-31 21:20 UTC close approach of 2001 ED18. Catalogue miss distance 159.8 LD · 6.14 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2055-10-28 to 2055-11-03, 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
2055-10-31 21:20:00 Earth 0.4105 AU 159.8 LD 15.4 km/s
2056-10-24 17:05:00 Earth 0.3135 AU 122.0 LD 12.7 km/s
2057-10-17 15:11:00 Earth 0.2188 AU 85.2 LD 10.2 km/s
2058-10-09 09:41:00 Earth 0.1293 AU 50.3 LD 8.2 km/s
2059-09-29 17:49:00 Earth 0.0577 AU 22.4 LD 6.8 km/s
2060-09-17 10:20:00 Earth 0.0676 AU 26.3 LD 6.3 km/s
2061-03-07 23:45:00 Earth 0.1496 AU 58.2 LD 6.4 km/s
2062-03-17 00:11:00 Earth 0.0726 AU 28.3 LD 6 km/s
2063-03-21 08:33:00 Earth 0.0275 AU 10.7 LD 6.4 km/s
2064-03-22 05:57:00 Earth 0.106 AU 41.3 LD 7.8 km/s

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

Sources