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Asteroid Near-Earth

2026 EL2

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(2026 EL2)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.856 AU
True anomaly
60.4°
Distance from Earth
0.663 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 2026 EL2 — 0.856 AU from the Sun 2026 EL2
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2026 EL2 is 0.663 AU from Earth today (5.5 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
10h 09m 43s
Declination
+10° 53′ 56″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
0.66 AU
Elongation from the Sun
58.16° — 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
0.913 AU
Eccentricity
0.1084
Inclination
0.63°
Orbital period
318.6 days
Perihelion
0.814 AU
Aphelion
1.012 AU
Longitude of ascending node
219.1°
Argument of periapsis
149.96°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · ATE
Aten
Earth MOID · 0.7 LD
0.0019 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.532

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 4).

Observations used
154
Data arc
37 days
First observed
10 March 2026
Last observed
16 April 2026
Residual RMS
0.33 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
29 May 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
26.15

Discovery & classification

Listed by JPL impact monitoring; see the Sentry table for current probabilities.

Aten Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 36 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2026 EL2 at 2032-11-27 03:15 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2032-11-27 03:15 UTC close approach of 2026 EL2. Catalogue miss distance 55.7 LD · 2.14 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2032-11-24 to 2032-11-30, 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 55.7 LD · 2.14 × 10⁷ km 2032-11-27 03:15 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2032-11-27 03:15 UTC close approach of 2026 EL2. Catalogue miss distance 55.7 LD · 2.14 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2032-11-24 to 2032-11-30, 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
2032-11-27 03:15:00 Earth 0.1431 AU 55.7 LD 3.3 km/s
2033-04-30 00:07:00 Earth 0.0874 AU 34.0 LD 5 km/s
2035-05-03 07:09:00 Venus 0.1166 AU 45.4 LD 0.6 km/s
2039-10-06 03:01:00 Earth 0.1877 AU 73.0 LD 5 km/s
2045-11-02 14:32:00 Venus 0.1001 AU 39.0 LD 1.1 km/s
2046-08-18 11:54:00 Earth 0.1779 AU 69.2 LD 4.5 km/s
2053-02-15 17:14:00 Earth 0.0233 AU 9.1 LD 2.9 km/s
2053-06-19 14:55:00 Earth 0.1095 AU 42.6 LD 1.5 km/s
2060-02-15 23:28:00 Earth 0.1935 AU 75.3 LD 8.3 km/s
2060-08-20 01:20:00 Earth 0.1702 AU 66.2 LD 4.3 km/s

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

Sources