2018 VL is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.79 AU to 1.28 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 385 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 1.044 AU
- True anomaly
- 254.63°
- Distance from Earth
- 1.991 AU
- As of
- 4 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
- 13h 51m 01s
- Declination
- -12° 19′ 12″
- Constellation
- Virgo
- Distance from Earth
- 1.99 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 12.24° — too close to the Sun to observe
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.
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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
- 1.036 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.2353
- Inclination
- 4.41°
- Orbital period
- 385 days
- Perihelion
- 0.792 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.28 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 220.04°
- Argument of periapsis
- 83.8°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 1.3 LD
- 0.0033 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.888
Orbit quality
Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 6).
- Observations used
- 61
- Data arc
- 10 days
- First observed
- 1 November 2018
- Last observed
- 11 November 2018
- Residual RMS
- 0.45 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 15 April 2021
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 27.5
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 88 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2034-04-06 07:30 UTC close approach of 2018 VL. Catalogue miss distance 110.3 LD · 4.24 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2034-04-03 to 2034-04-09, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2034-04-06 07:30:00 | Earth | 0.2834 AU | 110.3 LD | 16.2 km/s |
| 2035-04-22 11:16:00 | Earth | 0.0549 AU | 21.3 LD | 6.4 km/s |
| 2036-02-19 08:36:00 | Earth | 0.2827 AU | 110.0 LD | 6.7 km/s |
| 2036-07-16 16:48:00 | Earth | 0.2317 AU | 90.2 LD | 7.8 km/s |
| 2037-01-06 08:04:00 | Earth | 0.2968 AU | 115.5 LD | 7.1 km/s |
| 2037-10-24 12:03:00 | Earth | 0.1299 AU | 50.5 LD | 4.3 km/s |
| 2038-11-09 03:25:00 | Earth | 0.2152 AU | 83.8 LD | 14.2 km/s |
| 2053-04-02 06:55:00 | Earth | 0.3676 AU | 143.0 LD | 18.7 km/s |
| 2054-04-17 15:13:00 | Earth | 0.0333 AU | 13.0 LD | 8.7 km/s |
| 2055-03-05 17:43:00 | Earth | 0.2491 AU | 97.0 LD | 6 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