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Asteroid Near-Earth

2015 FW117

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(2015 FW117)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.984 AU
True anomaly
131.83°
Distance from Earth
1.202 AU
As of
19 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.

Sun Earth — 0.996 AU from the Sun Earth 2015 FW117 — 0.984 AU from the Sun 2015 FW117
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2015 FW117 is 1.202 AU from Earth today (10.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
11h 30m 34s
Declination
+31° 34′ 16″
Constellation
Ursa Major
Distance from Earth
1.2 AU
Elongation from the Sun
52.32° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

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
0.858 AU
Eccentricity
0.3821
Inclination
32.2°
Orbital period
290.4 days
Perihelion
0.53 AU
Aphelion
1.186 AU
Longitude of ascending node
10.92°
Argument of periapsis
315.92°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 3.6 LD
0.0092 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.698

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).

Observations used
169
Data arc
8 days
First observed
24 March 2015
Last observed
1 April 2015
Residual RMS
0.31 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
22.83

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 83 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2015 FW117 at 2027-03-19 20:45 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-03-19 20:45 UTC close approach of 2015 FW117. Catalogue miss distance 163.4 LD · 6.28 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-03-16 to 2027-03-22, 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 163.4 LD · 6.28 × 10⁷ km 2027-03-19 20:45 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-03-19 20:45 UTC close approach of 2015 FW117. Catalogue miss distance 163.4 LD · 6.28 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-03-16 to 2027-03-22, 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
2027-03-19 20:45:00 Earth 0.4198 AU 163.4 LD 28.8 km/s
2029-11-10 10:33:00 Earth 0.4095 AU 159.4 LD 23.6 km/s
2033-10-27 19:24:00 Earth 0.3939 AU 153.3 LD 23.9 km/s
2034-03-21 15:54:00 Earth 0.4056 AU 157.8 LD 16.1 km/s
2037-10-14 08:16:00 Earth 0.4025 AU 156.6 LD 24.4 km/s
2038-03-29 16:00:00 Earth 0.2929 AU 114.0 LD 16 km/s
2041-10-01 00:08:00 Earth 0.4303 AU 167.5 LD 25 km/s
2042-04-02 06:53:00 Earth 0.1665 AU 64.8 LD 16.5 km/s
2045-09-17 20:32:00 Earth 0.4691 AU 182.5 LD 25.5 km/s
2046-04-02 01:34:00 Earth 0.0353 AU 13.8 LD 18.1 km/s

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

Sources