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Asteroid Near-Earth

2008 UC202

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(2008 UC202)

2008 UC202 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.94 AU to 1.08 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 371.2 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.08 AU
True anomaly
182.81°
Distance from Earth
1.456 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.

Sun Earth — 0.992 AU from the Sun Earth 2008 UC202 — 1.08 AU from the Sun 2008 UC202
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2008 UC202 is 1.456 AU from Earth today (12.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
17h 56m 16s
Declination
-28° 55′ 57″
Constellation
Sagittarius
Distance from Earth
1.46 AU
Elongation from the Sun
47.85° — 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.

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
1.011 AU
Eccentricity
0.0686
Inclination
7.45°
Orbital period
371.2 days
Perihelion
0.941 AU
Aphelion
1.08 AU
Longitude of ascending node
37.3°
Argument of periapsis
91.97°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · APO
Apollo
Earth MOID · 1.0 LD
0.0026 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.02

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 6).

Observations used
21
Data arc
3 days
First observed
31 October 2008
Last observed
3 November 2008
Residual RMS
0.55 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
28.3

Discovery & classification

Listed by JPL impact monitoring; see the Sentry table for current probabilities.

Apollo Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 29 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2008 UC202 at 2068-10-20 16:34 UTC Sun 178.2 LD · 6.85 × 10⁷ km 2068-10-20 16:34 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2068-10-20 16:34 UTC close approach of 2008 UC202. Catalogue miss distance 178.2 LD · 6.85 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2068-10-17 to 2068-10-23, 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
2068-10-20 16:34:00 Earth 0.4579 AU 178.2 LD 15.8 km/s
2069-10-25 04:10:00 Earth 0.3592 AU 139.8 LD 12.9 km/s
2070-10-29 08:50:00 Earth 0.2615 AU 101.8 LD 10.2 km/s
2071-11-01 14:54:00 Earth 0.1656 AU 64.4 LD 7.6 km/s
2072-11-02 12:42:00 Earth 0.0751 AU 29.2 LD 5.4 km/s
2073-11-01 19:31:00 Earth 0.0135 AU 5.2 LD 4.2 km/s

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

Sources