2018 RF2 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.68 AU to 1.37 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 378.5 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.257 AU
- True anomaly
- 214.68°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.616 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
- 18h 12m 00s
- Declination
- -27° 34′ 03″
- Constellation
- Sagittarius
- Distance from Earth
- 1.62 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 50.84° — 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
- 1.024 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.34
- Inclination
- 9.63°
- Orbital period
- 378.5 days
- Perihelion
- 0.676 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.372 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 344.13°
- Argument of periapsis
- 111.01°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 3.9 LD
- 0.0099 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.904
Orbit quality
Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 6).
- Observations used
- 25
- Data arc
- 24 hours
- First observed
- 7 September 2018
- Last observed
- 8 September 2018
- Residual RMS
- 0.44 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 15 April 2021
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 28.2
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 65 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2045-08-26 02:03 UTC close approach of 2018 RF2. Catalogue miss distance 142.5 LD · 5.48 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2045-08-23 to 2045-08-29, 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.
| When (UTC) | Body | Distance | Lunar distances | Relative speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2044-11-10 08:55:00 | Venus | 0.124 AU | 48.2 LD | 15.7 km/s |
| 2045-08-26 02:03:00 | Earth | 0.3663 AU | 142.5 LD | 21.3 km/s |
| 2046-09-04 20:48:00 | Earth | 0.1478 AU | 57.5 LD | 15 km/s |
| 2047-09-12 06:56:00 | Earth | 0.0737 AU | 28.7 LD | 9.1 km/s |
| 2048-08-17 18:15:00 | Earth | 0.2706 AU | 105.3 LD | 7.6 km/s |
| 2049-07-20 01:12:00 | Earth | 0.3701 AU | 144.0 LD | 8.6 km/s |
| 2049-12-15 20:30:00 | Earth | 0.3334 AU | 129.7 LD | 11.6 km/s |
| 2050-06-25 20:34:00 | Earth | 0.402 AU | 156.4 LD | 8.8 km/s |
| 2051-01-19 02:10:00 | Earth | 0.3116 AU | 121.3 LD | 11.5 km/s |
| 2051-05-30 20:54:00 | Earth | 0.3748 AU | 145.9 LD | 8 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