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Asteroid Near-Earth

2018 PZ21

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(2018 PZ21)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.949 AU
True anomaly
232.28°
Distance from Earth
0.179 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 2018 PZ21 — 0.949 AU from the Sun 2018 PZ21
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2018 PZ21 is 0.179 AU from Earth today (1.5 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
09h 51m 14s
Declination
+30° 55′ 57″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
0.18 AU
Elongation from the Sun
68.77° — well clear of the Sun

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
0.856 AU
Eccentricity
0.2569
Inclination
3.15°
Orbital period
289.3 days
Perihelion
0.636 AU
Aphelion
1.076 AU
Longitude of ascending node
308.54°
Argument of periapsis
215.22°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 0.4 LD
0.0009 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.861

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).

Observations used
19
Data arc
25 days
First observed
11 August 2018
Last observed
5 September 2018
Residual RMS
0.29 ″
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 86 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2018 PZ21 at 2030-03-20 03:10 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2030-03-20 03:10 UTC close approach of 2018 PZ21. Catalogue miss distance 138.5 LD · 5.32 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2030-03-17 to 2030-03-23, 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. Sun 138.5 LD · 5.32 × 10⁷ km 2030-03-20 03:10 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2030-03-20 03:10 UTC close approach of 2018 PZ21. Catalogue miss distance 138.5 LD · 5.32 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2030-03-17 to 2030-03-23, 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
2026-10-17 10:35:00 Earth 0.1957 AU 76.2 LD 11.8 km/s
2026-12-09 03:34:00 Venus 0.025 AU 9.7 LD 7.6 km/s
2030-03-20 03:10:00 Earth 0.3559 AU 138.5 LD 11.7 km/s
2030-10-09 08:28:00 Earth 0.4001 AU 155.7 LD 18.4 km/s
2032-07-20 22:29:00 Venus 0.0978 AU 38.1 LD 6.9 km/s
2033-08-06 00:14:00 Earth 0.3415 AU 132.9 LD 16.7 km/s
2034-02-21 02:00:00 Earth 0.3507 AU 136.5 LD 11.7 km/s
2037-07-30 09:47:00 Earth 0.1403 AU 54.6 LD 10.4 km/s
2038-01-23 20:02:00 Earth 0.3169 AU 123.3 LD 9.9 km/s
2038-03-17 12:06:00 Venus 0.0845 AU 32.9 LD 5.5 km/s

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

Sources