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public  Westerland, Germania Westerland, Germania  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/Berlin
Sunrise: 5:00 
Transit: 13:31 
Sunset: 22:02
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Dwarf Planets and Asteroids » 

Asteroid 2018 AJ

Above the horizon.  Rise: 23:08 | Tran: 3:00 | Set: 6:47
Alt: 8.93°   Az: 211.63°   Direction: South-South-West

Asteroid 2018 AJ is in the constellation of Capricornus, at a distance of 118,780,347.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 20h 35m 04s and the Declination is -20° 53’ 22” (apparent coordinates). The magnitude of asteroid 2018 AJ is 25.97.

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of asteroid 2018 AJ in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

Star map showing the position of asteroid 2018 AJ in the constellation of Capricornus on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.
Star map showing the position of asteroid 2018 AJ in the constellation of Capricornus on F, d Y. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive star map.

The following map uses photographic imagery from the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) to realistically visualize the precise position of asteroid 2018 AJ against the stars in the background. The horizontal size of the map measures 60 arcminutes. Click on the image to access a more detailed full-screen view.

2018 AJ
RA: 20h 33m 35s
Dec: -20° 58’ 41”
Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of asteroid 2018 AJ. Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

20h 35m 04s
-20° 53’ 22”
02h 14m 43s
22h 49m 47s

J2000

20h 33m 35s
-20° 58’ 41”

Additional Information

Capricornus
25.97

Rise and Set Times

The following table lists today's rise, transit and set times of asteroid 2018 AJ from Westerland, Germania (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/Berlin):

Azimuth: 110.9°
Max altitude: 14.2°
Azimuth: 249.1°

If you need to access this information frequently for your observations, you can create a simple customized Quick Access page, so that you can easily bookmark it in your browser favorites or add a shortcut to your mobile phones' home screen.

Distance from Earth

The distance of asteroid 2018 AJ from Earth is currently 118,780,347.0 kilometers, equivalent to 0.7939975779 Astronomical Units. Light takes 6m 36.209s to travel from asteroid 2018 AJ and arrive to us.

118,780,347.0
0.7939975779
6m 36.209s

The following graph shows the distance of asteroid 2018 AJ from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance is measured in Astronomical Units and the data is sampled with an interval of 1 day.

Chart of the distance of asteroid 2018 AJ from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)
Note: The values in this chart may not be entirely accurate around the time of closest approach for objects passing very close to Earth at high speed (e.g., Near-Earth Objects).

The value of the distance of 2018 AJ from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the live position tracker.

Closest Approach to Earth

In the period between January 1, 2013 and December 30, 2100, the closest approach of asteroid 2018 AJ to Earth happened on Wednesday 24 January 2018 at a distance of 0.012035 Astronomical Units, or 1,800,431 kilometers:

Wednesday 24 January 2018
1,800,431
0.012035

Note: the values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.

Light Curve

The following chart shows the light curve of asteroid 2018 AJ, i.e., its apparent magnitude as a function of time. The curve is calculated using the latest ephemerides provided by JPL Horizons. The magnitude data is sampled with the interval of 2 days. Because of this sampling, inaccuracies may occur for objects that have large variations of brightness over a few days. For comets, large discrepancies can arise between the calculated brightness and the observations due to their highly dynamic, and not always precisely predictable, behavior.

Chart of the magnitude of asteroid 2018 AJ as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of asteroid 2018 AJ at epoch February, 24 2023 00:00 UTC (JD: 2460000.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.30625311
Orbit inclination i 5.66603619°
Perihelion distance q 0.98565522 AU
147,451,922 km
Aphelion distance Q 1.85588610 AU
277,636,609 km
Semi-major axis a 1.42077066 AU
212,544,265 km
Orbital period period 1.6935 years
618.5637 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp March 7, 2023
2,460,011.0523 JD
Next perihelion transit November 15, 2024
2,460,629.6160 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 195.43799502679°
Longitude of the ascending node node 303.58554643684°
Mean anomaly M 353.85861252348°
Mean motion n 0.58199346°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of asteroid 2018 AJ relative to the other major objects in the Solar System. You can access more advanced features using our 3D Solar System Viewer.

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of asteroid 2018 AJ computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Apparent celestial coordinates are provided.

Date Right AscensionR.A. DeclinationDec. MagnitudeMag Constellation
Jun 30 2025 20h 46m 29s -20° 39’ 54” 26.18 Capricornus
Jul 01 2025 20h 45m 01s -20° 41’ 41” 26.15 Capricornus
Jul 02 2025 20h 43m 31s -20° 43’ 30” 26.12 Capricornus
Jul 03 2025 20h 41m 57s -20° 45’ 23” 26.09 Capricornus
Jul 04 2025 20h 40m 21s -20° 47’ 17” 26.06 Capricornus
Jul 05 2025 20h 38m 42s -20° 49’ 13” 26.03 Capricornus
Jul 06 2025 20h 37m 01s -20° 51’ 10” 26.00 Capricornus
Jul 07 2025 20h 35m 18s -20° 53’ 07” 25.97 Capricornus
Jul 08 2025 20h 33m 33s -20° 55’ 03” 25.94 Capricornus
Jul 09 2025 20h 31m 46s -20° 56’ 59” 25.91 Capricornus
Jul 10 2025 20h 29m 58s -20° 58’ 54” 25.87 Capricornus
Jul 11 2025 20h 28m 07s -21° 00’ 46” 25.84 Capricornus
Jul 12 2025 20h 26m 16s -21° 02’ 37” 25.81 Capricornus
Jul 13 2025 20h 24m 23s -21° 04’ 25” 25.77 Capricornus

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