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Asteroid Near-Earth Potentially hazardous

2018 AM12

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(2018 AM12)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.968 AU
True anomaly
124.12°
Distance from Earth
1.209 AU
As of
21 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 2018 AM12 — 0.968 AU from the Sun 2018 AM12
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2018 AM12 is 1.209 AU from Earth today (10.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
10h 39m 40s
Declination
+09° 52′ 30″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
1.21 AU
Elongation from the Sun
51.02° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

Visible from both hemispheres.

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
0.917 AU
Eccentricity
0.1162
Inclination
21.67°
Orbital period
320.9 days
Perihelion
0.811 AU
Aphelion
1.024 AU
Longitude of ascending node
288.83°
Argument of periapsis
51.05°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 2.8 LD
0.0071 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.448

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
128
Data arc
14.06 years
First observed
9 January 2011
Last observed
31 January 2025
Residual RMS
0.4 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
31 January 2025

Physical properties

Rotation period
0.21 hours

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
21.16

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object Potentially Hazardous Asteroid

Close approaches 64 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2018 AM12 at 2040-01-08 14:10 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2040-01-08 14:10 UTC close approach of 2018 AM12. Catalogue miss distance 73.1 LD · 2.81 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2040-01-05 to 2040-01-11, 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 73.1 LD · 2.81 × 10⁷ km 2040-01-08 14:10 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2040-01-08 14:10 UTC close approach of 2018 AM12. Catalogue miss distance 73.1 LD · 2.81 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2040-01-05 to 2040-01-11, 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
2040-01-08 14:10:00 Earth 0.1879 AU 73.1 LD 11.6 km/s
2047-01-09 12:16:00 Earth 0.0325 AU 12.6 LD 11.4 km/s
2047-06-26 13:30:00 Earth 0.1835 AU 71.4 LD 13 km/s
2054-01-11 05:35:00 Earth 0.0729 AU 28.4 LD 12.3 km/s
2054-07-08 00:00:00 Earth 0.1715 AU 66.7 LD 12.7 km/s
2070-04-24 13:00:00 Venus 0.1396 AU 54.3 LD 14.6 km/s
2076-06-19 05:28:00 Venus 0.1235 AU 48.1 LD 14.7 km/s
2082-08-14 20:50:00 Venus 0.1172 AU 45.6 LD 14.9 km/s
2083-01-08 16:59:00 Earth 0.1077 AU 41.9 LD 11.2 km/s
2088-10-09 12:36:00 Venus 0.1307 AU 50.9 LD 15.4 km/s

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

Sources