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Asteroid Near-Earth

2018 JL1

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(2018 JL1)

2018 JL1 is an asteroid in the Aten orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.81 AU to 1.15 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 354.6 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.153 AU
True anomaly
172.91°
Distance from Earth
1.807 AU
As of
2 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 2018 JL1 — 1.153 AU from the Sun 2018 JL1
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2018 JL1 is 1.807 AU from Earth today (15.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
12h 24m 56s
Declination
+00° 48′ 59″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
1.81 AU
Elongation from the Sun
35.51° — 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
0.981 AU
Eccentricity
0.1775
Inclination
5.15°
Orbital period
354.6 days
Perihelion
0.806 AU
Aphelion
1.155 AU
Longitude of ascending node
54.68°
Argument of periapsis
287.43°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 1.3 LD
0.0033 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.158

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 5).

Observations used
39
Data arc
8 days
First observed
8 May 2018
Last observed
16 May 2018
Residual RMS
0.39 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
26.7

Discovery & classification

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

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 38 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2018 JL1 at 2045-12-30 02:45 UTC Sun 160.1 LD · 6.15 × 10⁷ km 2045-12-30 02:45 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2045-12-30 02:45 UTC close approach of 2018 JL1. Catalogue miss distance 160.1 LD · 6.15 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2045-12-27 to 2046-01-02, 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. 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
2027-05-03 09:58:00 Venus 0.0872 AU 33.9 LD 1.7 km/s
2045-10-17 09:56:00 Venus 0.085 AU 33.1 LD 1.7 km/s
2045-12-30 02:45:00 Earth 0.4114 AU 160.1 LD 18.3 km/s
2046-12-22 10:15:00 Earth 0.2351 AU 91.5 LD 12.9 km/s
2047-12-14 05:46:00 Earth 0.066 AU 25.7 LD 7.6 km/s
2048-11-16 03:33:00 Earth 0.1214 AU 47.3 LD 4.2 km/s
2049-09-26 05:42:00 Earth 0.2014 AU 78.4 LD 6.2 km/s
2050-02-22 10:02:00 Earth 0.1892 AU 73.6 LD 5 km/s
2050-08-18 19:39:00 Earth 0.216 AU 84.1 LD 6.3 km/s
2051-04-07 10:32:00 Earth 0.1543 AU 60.0 LD 4.5 km/s

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

Sources