2008 JQ is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.91 AU to 1.13 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 374.2 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.066 AU
- True anomaly
- 122.25°
- Distance from Earth
- 2.022 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
- 15h 23m 05s
- Declination
- -15° 44′ 53″
- Constellation
- Libra
- Distance from Earth
- 2.02 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 11.05° — too close to the Sun to observe
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
- 0.1077
- Inclination
- 13.7°
- Orbital period
- 374.2 days
- Perihelion
- 0.907 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.126 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 220.65°
- Argument of periapsis
- 259.76°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 2.6 LD
- 0.0066 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.974
Orbit quality
Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 6).
- Observations used
- 45
- Data arc
- 13 days
- First observed
- 2 May 2008
- Last observed
- 15 May 2008
- Residual RMS
- 0.44 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 15 April 2021
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 25.6
Discovery & classification
Listed by JPL impact monitoring; see the Sentry table for current probabilities.
Close approaches 36 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2044-10-12 22:23 UTC close approach of 2008 JQ. Catalogue miss distance 168.5 LD · 6.48 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2044-10-09 to 2044-10-15, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2044-10-12 22:23:00 | Earth | 0.4329 AU | 168.5 LD | 17.3 km/s |
| 2045-10-20 12:10:00 | Earth | 0.2822 AU | 109.8 LD | 13.3 km/s |
| 2046-10-27 23:01:00 | Earth | 0.1313 AU | 51.1 LD | 9.8 km/s |
| 2047-11-04 00:10:00 | Earth | 0.018 AU | 7.0 LD | 7.5 km/s |
| 2048-11-10 23:46:00 | Earth | 0.1871 AU | 72.8 LD | 7.8 km/s |
| 2049-04-30 11:01:00 | Earth | 0.1024 AU | 39.9 LD | 7 km/s |
| 2050-04-30 08:19:00 | Earth | 0.065 AU | 25.3 LD | 8.4 km/s |
| 2051-05-05 04:27:00 | Earth | 0.2348 AU | 91.4 LD | 11.9 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