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Asteroid Near-Earth

2018 UC

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(2018 UC)

2018 UC is an asteroid in the Aten orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.66 AU to 1.32 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 360.8 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.776 AU
True anomaly
294°
Distance from Earth
0.639 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 UC — 0.776 AU from the Sun 2018 UC
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2018 UC is 0.639 AU from Earth today (5.3 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
11h 23m 24s
Declination
+03° 44′ 42″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
0.64 AU
Elongation from the Sun
51.04° — 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
0.992 AU
Eccentricity
0.3337
Inclination
0.23°
Orbital period
360.8 days
Perihelion
0.661 AU
Aphelion
1.323 AU
Longitude of ascending node
123.3°
Argument of periapsis
23.09°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 1.1 LD
0.0028 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.069

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 6).

Observations used
47
Data arc
13 days
First observed
16 October 2018
Last observed
29 October 2018
Residual RMS
0.53 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
25.9

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 63 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2018 UC at 2076-06-30 20:05 UTC Sun 186.8 LD · 7.18 × 10⁷ km 2076-06-30 20:05 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2076-06-30 20:05 UTC close approach of 2018 UC. Catalogue miss distance 186.8 LD · 7.18 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2076-06-27 to 2076-07-03, 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
2041-09-05 20:17:00 Venus 0.0412 AU 16.0 LD 10.6 km/s
2046-08-24 03:45:00 Venus 0.0505 AU 19.6 LD 7 km/s
2051-09-02 00:34:00 Venus 0.056 AU 21.8 LD 6.9 km/s
2056-08-20 08:52:00 Venus 0.0607 AU 23.6 LD 11.1 km/s
2076-06-30 20:05:00 Earth 0.4801 AU 186.8 LD 24.1 km/s
2077-06-27 17:58:00 Earth 0.4066 AU 158.2 LD 21.9 km/s
2078-06-24 16:10:00 Earth 0.3324 AU 129.4 LD 19.6 km/s
2079-03-17 08:12:00 Venus 0.0434 AU 16.9 LD 10.7 km/s
2079-06-21 17:28:00 Earth 0.2561 AU 99.7 LD 17.3 km/s
2080-06-17 11:02:00 Earth 0.1735 AU 67.5 LD 14.8 km/s

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

Sources