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Asteroid Near-Earth

2019 WU1

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(2019 WU1)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.983 AU
True anomaly
136.39°
Distance from Earth
0.227 AU
As of
21 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 — 0.995 AU from the Sun Earth 2019 WU1 — 0.983 AU from the Sun 2019 WU1
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2019 WU1 is 0.227 AU from Earth today (1.9 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
08h 17m 35s
Declination
-10° 57′ 12″
Constellation
Hydra
Distance from Earth
0.23 AU
Elongation from the Sun
80.43° — well clear of the Sun

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
0.912 AU
Eccentricity
0.1161
Inclination
17.47°
Orbital period
318.4 days
Perihelion
0.807 AU
Aphelion
1.018 AU
Longitude of ascending node
61.46°
Argument of periapsis
200.94°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 8.3 LD
0.0214 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.496

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 3).

Observations used
58
Data arc
10 days
First observed
24 November 2019
Last observed
4 December 2019
Residual RMS
0.51 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
26.4

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 130 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2019 WU1 at 2026-11-29 17:35 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2026-11-29 17:35 UTC close approach of 2019 WU1. Catalogue miss distance 61.9 LD · 2.38 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2026-11-26 to 2026-12-02, 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. At closest approach the object is north of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. Sun 61.9 LD · 2.38 × 10⁷ km 2026-11-29 17:35 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2026-11-29 17:35 UTC close approach of 2019 WU1. Catalogue miss distance 61.9 LD · 2.38 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2026-11-26 to 2026-12-02, 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. At closest approach the object is north of the ecliptic. 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
2026-11-29 17:35:00 Earth 0.1591 AU 61.9 LD 9.7 km/s
2027-03-23 07:58:00 Earth 0.2947 AU 114.7 LD 10.3 km/s
2032-11-22 22:26:00 Earth 0.4194 AU 163.2 LD 17.7 km/s
2033-06-21 17:56:00 Earth 0.256 AU 99.6 LD 10.9 km/s
2033-12-09 15:08:00 Earth 0.3227 AU 125.6 LD 12.4 km/s
2035-03-03 04:07:00 Venus 0.0885 AU 34.4 LD 8.7 km/s
2039-11-21 06:51:00 Earth 0.2429 AU 94.5 LD 13.1 km/s
2040-05-26 06:14:00 Earth 0.2053 AU 79.9 LD 11.1 km/s
2040-12-19 05:33:00 Earth 0.4837 AU 188.3 LD 16.4 km/s
2045-08-17 15:16:00 Venus 0.0875 AU 34.1 LD 8.7 km/s

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

Sources