2017 MT8 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.93 AU to 1.11 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 376.4 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.108 AU
- True anomaly
- 196.92°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.595 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
- 17h 38m 53s
- Declination
- -24° 14′ 36″
- Constellation
- Ophiuchus
- Distance from Earth
- 1.6 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 43.33° — 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.
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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
- 1.02 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.0909
- Inclination
- 10.84°
- Orbital period
- 376.4 days
- Perihelion
- 0.928 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.113 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 116.36°
- Argument of periapsis
- 349.49°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 21.4 LD
- 0.0549 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.966
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 2).
- Observations used
- 99
- Data arc
- 371 days
- First observed
- 30 June 2017
- Last observed
- 6 July 2018
- Residual RMS
- 0.44 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 15 April 2021
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 23.2
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 86 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2048-09-17 09:51 UTC close approach of 2017 MT8. Catalogue miss distance 167.3 LD · 6.43 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2048-09-14 to 2048-09-20, 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.
| When (UTC) | Body | Distance | Lunar distances | Relative speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2048-09-17 09:51:00 | Earth | 0.4298 AU | 167.3 LD | 13.8 km/s |
| 2049-09-13 21:30:00 | Earth | 0.2718 AU | 105.8 LD | 8.6 km/s |
| 2050-08-16 03:10:00 | Earth | 0.1486 AU | 57.8 LD | 6.3 km/s |
| 2050-12-22 09:33:00 | Earth | 0.1332 AU | 51.8 LD | 6.8 km/s |
| 2051-07-20 08:15:00 | Earth | 0.094 AU | 36.6 LD | 5.8 km/s |
| 2052-01-25 13:49:00 | Earth | 0.0659 AU | 25.7 LD | 6.4 km/s |
| 2052-06-19 15:15:00 | Earth | 0.1576 AU | 61.3 LD | 5.9 km/s |
| 2053-02-26 16:37:00 | Earth | 0.209 AU | 81.3 LD | 8.5 km/s |
| 2054-03-30 01:41:00 | Earth | 0.3776 AU | 146.9 LD | 12.6 km/s |
| 2082-09-19 09:43:00 | Earth | 0.3526 AU | 137.2 LD | 11.3 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