2024 QM is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.69 AU to 1.36 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 378.9 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 4 September 2024.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 0.872 AU
- True anomaly
- 279.24°
- Distance from Earth
- 0.502 AU
- As of
- 3 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
- 18h 59m 03s
- Declination
- -31° 02′ 25″
- Constellation
- Sagittarius
- Distance from Earth
- 0.5 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 61.09° — well clear of the Sun
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.
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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
- 1.025 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.3236
- Inclination
- 7.3°
- Orbital period
- 378.9 days
- Perihelion
- 0.693 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.356 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 151.8°
- Argument of periapsis
- 300.46°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 11.6 LD
- 0.0298 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 5.911
Orbit quality
Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 6).
- Observations used
- 28
- Data arc
- 22 days
- First observed
- 13 August 2024
- Last observed
- 4 September 2024
- Residual RMS
- 0.77 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 4 September 2024
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 23.68
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 103 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2026-12-18 02:17 UTC close approach of 2024 QM. Catalogue miss distance 118.8 LD · 4.57 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2026-12-15 to 2026-12-21, 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 south of the ecliptic. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-12-18 02:17:00 | Earth | 0.3052 AU | 118.8 LD | 11 km/s |
| 2027-06-18 03:55:00 | Earth | 0.3636 AU | 141.5 LD | 8.3 km/s |
| 2028-01-23 06:14:00 | Earth | 0.2748 AU | 106.9 LD | 10.3 km/s |
| 2028-05-20 16:36:00 | Earth | 0.3231 AU | 125.7 LD | 7.4 km/s |
| 2029-03-12 05:22:00 | Earth | 0.1649 AU | 64.2 LD | 7 km/s |
| 2030-04-07 00:00:00 | Earth | 0.1201 AU | 46.8 LD | 12.3 km/s |
| 2031-04-19 03:45:00 | Earth | 0.3257 AU | 126.8 LD | 19 km/s |
| 2037-04-10 14:55:00 | Venus | 0.1468 AU | 57.1 LD | 14.2 km/s |
| 2040-07-09 03:23:00 | Venus | 0.071 AU | 27.6 LD | 7.3 km/s |
| 2050-08-25 19:49:00 | Earth | 0.3269 AU | 127.2 LD | 19.3 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