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Asteroid Near-Earth

2018 WA1

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(2018 WA1)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.848 AU
True anomaly
86.44°
Distance from Earth
0.92 AU
As of
20 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 WA1 — 0.848 AU from the Sun 2018 WA1
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2018 WA1 is 0.92 AU from Earth today (7.6 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
17h 16m 16s
Declination
-21° 23′ 16″
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Distance from Earth
0.92 AU
Elongation from the Sun
52.41° — 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.

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
0.872 AU
Eccentricity
0.1391
Inclination
1.81°
Orbital period
297.6 days
Perihelion
0.751 AU
Aphelion
0.994 AU
Longitude of ascending node
233.39°
Argument of periapsis
8.34°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 0.6 LD
0.0016 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.775

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 6).

Observations used
14
Data arc
6 days
First observed
16 November 2018
Last observed
22 November 2018
Residual RMS
0.54 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
30.1

Discovery & classification

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

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 23 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2018 WA1 at 2027-08-05 05:08 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-08-05 05:08 UTC close approach of 2018 WA1. Catalogue miss distance 80.3 LD · 3.09 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-08-02 to 2027-08-08, 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 80.3 LD · 3.09 × 10⁷ km 2027-08-05 05:08 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-08-05 05:08 UTC close approach of 2018 WA1. Catalogue miss distance 80.3 LD · 3.09 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-08-02 to 2027-08-08, 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
2027-08-05 05:08:00 Earth 0.2064 AU 80.3 LD 4.5 km/s
2027-12-27 12:46:00 Earth 0.1711 AU 66.6 LD 8.3 km/s
2031-10-29 11:16:00 Earth 0.1955 AU 76.1 LD 9.1 km/s
2032-03-28 19:51:00 Earth 0.2144 AU 83.4 LD 5.3 km/s
2036-06-08 11:00:00 Venus 0.141 AU 54.9 LD 8.2 km/s
2036-06-19 00:38:00 Earth 0.2565 AU 99.8 LD 7 km/s
2036-12-19 14:10:00 Earth 0.4011 AU 156.1 LD 15.7 km/s
2038-11-16 10:54:00 Venus 0.0394 AU 15.4 LD 4.1 km/s
2040-11-01 10:53:00 Earth 0.0198 AU 7.7 LD 3.5 km/s
2041-04-30 07:54:00 Venus 0.0341 AU 13.3 LD 3.6 km/s

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

Sources