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Asteroid Near-Earth

2022 WL2

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(2022 WL2)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.932 AU
True anomaly
232.03°
Distance from Earth
0.856 AU
As of
19 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 2022 WL2 — 0.932 AU from the Sun 2022 WL2
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2022 WL2 is 0.856 AU from Earth today (7.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
10h 02m 37s
Declination
+16° 27′ 54″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
0.86 AU
Elongation from the Sun
59.83° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

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
0.84 AU
Eccentricity
0.2619
Inclination
11.37°
Orbital period
281.1 days
Perihelion
0.62 AU
Aphelion
1.06 AU
Longitude of ascending node
59.62°
Argument of periapsis
147.54°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 4.6 LD
0.0119 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.956

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).

Observations used
36
Data arc
5 days
First observed
19 November 2022
Last observed
24 November 2022
Residual RMS
0.57 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
25 December 2022

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
27.44

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 120 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2022 WL2 at 2029-05-10 00:41 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2029-05-10 00:41 UTC close approach of 2022 WL2. Catalogue miss distance 148.2 LD · 5.7 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2029-05-07 to 2029-05-13, 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 148.2 LD · 5.7 × 10⁷ km 2029-05-10 00:41 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2029-05-10 00:41 UTC close approach of 2022 WL2. Catalogue miss distance 148.2 LD · 5.7 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2029-05-07 to 2029-05-13, 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
2029-05-10 00:41:00 Earth 0.3809 AU 148.2 LD 14.1 km/s
2029-11-18 06:51:00 Earth 0.4194 AU 163.2 LD 20.3 km/s
2032-07-15 08:27:00 Earth 0.2907 AU 113.1 LD 7.8 km/s
2032-11-20 13:01:00 Earth 0.0402 AU 15.6 LD 7.6 km/s
2035-09-22 10:04:00 Earth 0.3213 AU 125.1 LD 14.5 km/s
2036-03-20 06:43:00 Earth 0.3856 AU 150.0 LD 12.4 km/s
2039-05-20 04:07:00 Earth 0.371 AU 144.4 LD 13.6 km/s
2039-11-21 20:11:00 Earth 0.3373 AU 131.3 LD 17.7 km/s
2042-11-05 01:29:00 Earth 0.1118 AU 43.5 LD 7.2 km/s
2045-09-24 22:24:00 Earth 0.412 AU 160.3 LD 17.9 km/s

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

Sources