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Asteroid Near-Earth

2024 WF18

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(2024 WF18)

2024 WF18 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.86 AU to 1.16 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 371.1 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 12 December 2025.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.145 AU
True anomaly
199.72°
Distance from Earth
0.209 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.

Sun Earth — 0.992 AU from the Sun Earth 2024 WF18 — 1.145 AU from the Sun 2024 WF18
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2024 WF18 is 0.209 AU from Earth today (1.7 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
23h 57m 55s
Declination
+49° 26′ 29″
Constellation
Cassiopeia
Distance from Earth
0.21 AU
Elongation from the Sun
133.09° — well clear of the Sun

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
1.011 AU
Eccentricity
0.1444
Inclination
11.53°
Orbital period
371.1 days
Perihelion
0.865 AU
Aphelion
1.157 AU
Longitude of ascending node
258.57°
Argument of periapsis
300.32°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · APO
Apollo
Earth MOID · 26.2 LD
0.0672 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.003

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
64
Data arc
738 days
First observed
5 December 2023
Last observed
12 December 2025
Residual RMS
0.62 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
12 December 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
24.19

Discovery & classification

Apollo Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 46 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2024 WF18 at 2026-11-18 13:59 UTC Sun 75.7 LD · 2.91 × 10⁷ km 2026-11-18 13:59 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2026-11-18 13:59 UTC close approach of 2024 WF18. Catalogue miss distance 75.7 LD · 2.91 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2026-11-15 to 2026-11-21, 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 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
2026-11-18 13:59:00 Earth 0.1945 AU 75.7 LD 6.5 km/s
2027-05-01 13:18:00 Earth 0.191 AU 74.3 LD 6.8 km/s
2028-05-25 16:32:00 Earth 0.1392 AU 54.2 LD 6.9 km/s
2029-06-14 13:57:00 Earth 0.0894 AU 34.8 LD 7.1 km/s
2030-06-29 12:31:00 Earth 0.0915 AU 35.6 LD 8 km/s
2031-07-10 17:21:00 Earth 0.1581 AU 61.5 LD 9.8 km/s
2083-12-26 04:48:00 Earth 0.1225 AU 47.7 LD 9.2 km/s
2084-12-22 06:51:00 Earth 0.0685 AU 26.7 LD 7.4 km/s
2085-12-13 15:49:00 Earth 0.1009 AU 39.3 LD 6.6 km/s
2086-11-29 05:41:00 Earth 0.1616 AU 62.9 LD 6.5 km/s

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

Sources