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Asteroid Near-Earth Potentially hazardous

2017 MU8

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(2017 MU8)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.073 AU
True anomaly
130.96°
Distance from Earth
1.735 AU
As of
22 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 — 0.995 AU from the Sun Earth 2017 MU8 — 1.073 AU from the Sun 2017 MU8
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2017 MU8 is 1.735 AU from Earth today (14.4 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 09m 38s
Declination
-21° 04′ 36″
Constellation
Scorpius
Distance from Earth
1.74 AU
Elongation from the Sun
34.39° — 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
0.956 AU
Eccentricity
0.2546
Inclination
18.61°
Orbital period
341.5 days
Perihelion
0.713 AU
Aphelion
1.2 AU
Longitude of ascending node
276.16°
Argument of periapsis
228.21°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 18.8 LD
0.0482 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.228

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 2).

Observations used
78
Data arc
486 days
First observed
19 June 2017
Last observed
18 October 2018
Residual RMS
0.41 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
6 December 2023

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
21.47

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object Potentially Hazardous Asteroid

Close approaches 141 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2017 MU8 at 2030-06-29 10:28 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2030-06-29 10:28 UTC close approach of 2017 MU8. Catalogue miss distance 128.6 LD · 4.94 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2030-06-26 to 2030-07-02, 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 128.6 LD · 4.94 × 10⁷ km 2030-06-29 10:28 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2030-06-29 10:28 UTC close approach of 2017 MU8. Catalogue miss distance 128.6 LD · 4.94 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2030-06-26 to 2030-07-02, 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
2030-06-29 10:28:00 Earth 0.3303 AU 128.6 LD 18.9 km/s
2031-06-24 07:01:00 Earth 0.0688 AU 26.8 LD 10.6 km/s
2032-02-24 12:37:00 Earth 0.3634 AU 141.4 LD 11.7 km/s
2032-08-04 06:39:00 Earth 0.3374 AU 131.3 LD 9.3 km/s
2032-12-27 01:56:00 Earth 0.2216 AU 86.2 LD 12.9 km/s
2033-11-10 18:06:00 Earth 0.2892 AU 112.6 LD 15.6 km/s
2038-08-11 09:30:00 Venus 0.0689 AU 26.8 LD 16 km/s
2040-06-19 13:25:00 Venus 0.1264 AU 49.2 LD 13.6 km/s
2044-07-02 04:53:00 Earth 0.4176 AU 162.5 LD 21.3 km/s
2045-06-22 19:32:00 Earth 0.0582 AU 22.6 LD 11.9 km/s

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

Sources