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Asteroid Near-Earth Potentially hazardous

2024 WJ4

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(2024 WJ4)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.89 AU
True anomaly
237.32°
Distance from Earth
1.554 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 2024 WJ4 — 0.89 AU from the Sun 2024 WJ4
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2024 WJ4 is 1.554 AU from Earth today (12.9 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
11h 53m 18s
Declination
+07° 13′ 55″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
1.55 AU
Elongation from the Sun
32.15° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

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
0.864 AU
Eccentricity
0.4951
Inclination
11.33°
Orbital period
293.1 days
Perihelion
0.436 AU
Aphelion
1.291 AU
Longitude of ascending node
26.44°
Argument of periapsis
233.49°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 9.5 LD
0.0243 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.72

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
60
Data arc
12.15 years
First observed
28 December 2012
Last observed
19 February 2025
Residual RMS
0.54 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
18 April 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
21.56

Discovery & classification

Aten Near-Earth Object Potentially Hazardous Asteroid

Close approaches 213 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2024 WJ4 at 2048-10-31 00:56 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2048-10-31 00:56 UTC close approach of 2024 WJ4. Catalogue miss distance 73.3 LD · 2.82 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2048-10-28 to 2048-11-03, 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 73.3 LD · 2.82 × 10⁷ km 2048-10-31 00:56 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2048-10-31 00:56 UTC close approach of 2024 WJ4. Catalogue miss distance 73.3 LD · 2.82 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2048-10-28 to 2048-11-03, 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
2027-08-27 10:06:00 Venus 0.0619 AU 24.1 LD 18.1 km/s
2031-01-22 19:15:00 Venus 0.1138 AU 44.3 LD 13.9 km/s
2039-01-28 20:13:00 Venus 0.0798 AU 31.0 LD 22.6 km/s
2046-02-09 07:34:00 Venus 0.0612 AU 23.8 LD 18.2 km/s
2048-10-31 00:56:00 Earth 0.1883 AU 73.3 LD 11.6 km/s
2049-07-07 14:54:00 Venus 0.1192 AU 46.4 LD 13.6 km/s
2052-10-27 02:19:00 Earth 0.1324 AU 51.5 LD 12.5 km/s
2056-10-25 20:59:00 Earth 0.0781 AU 30.4 LD 13.8 km/s
2057-07-12 20:23:00 Venus 0.0534 AU 20.8 LD 21.3 km/s
2060-10-26 04:23:00 Earth 0.03 AU 11.7 LD 15.3 km/s

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

Sources