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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 4:45 
Transit: 13:02 
Sunset: 21:19
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Dwarf Planets and Asteroids » 

Asteroid 2018 VG18

Below the horizon.  Rise: 4:06 | Tran: 11:44 | Set: 19:21
Alt: -14.21°   Az: 32.12°   Direction: South

Asteroid 2018 VG18 is in the constellation of Taurus, at a distance of 18,669,298,913.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 04h 55m 39s and the Declination is +18° 37’ 14” (apparent coordinates). The magnitude of asteroid 2018 VG18 is 24.93.

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of asteroid 2018 VG18 in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

Star map showing the position of asteroid 2018 VG18 in the constellation of Taurus on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.
Star map showing the position of asteroid 2018 VG18 in the constellation of Taurus 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 VG18 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 VG18
RA: 04h 54m 10s
Dec: +18° 34’ 51”
Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of asteroid 2018 VG18. Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

04h 55m 39s
+18° 37’ 14”
14h 11m 46s
19h 07m 26s

J2000

04h 54m 10s
+18° 34’ 51”

Additional Information

Taurus
24.93

Rise and Set Times

The following table lists today's rise, transit and set times of asteroid 2018 VG18 from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 71.4°
Max altitude: 57.1°
Azimuth: 288.6°

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 VG18 from Earth is currently 18,669,298,913.0 kilometers, equivalent to 124.7965550956 Astronomical Units. Light takes 17h 17m 54.078s to travel from asteroid 2018 VG18 and arrive to us.

18,669,298,913.0
124.7965550956
17h 17m 54.078s

The following graph shows the distance of asteroid 2018 VG18 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 VG18 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 VG18 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, 2000 and December 31, 2099, the closest approach of asteroid 2018 VG18 to Earth happened on Friday 1 December 2000 at a distance of 121.116312 Astronomical Units, or 18,118,742,471 kilometers:

Friday 1 December 2000
18,118,742,471
121.116312

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 VG18, 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 VG18 as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of asteroid 2018 VG18 at epoch October, 16 2024 00:00 UTC (JD: 2460600.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.52346298
Orbit inclination i 24.11369373°
Perihelion distance q 39.08626043 AU
5,847,221,346 km
Aphelion distance Q 124.95665278 AU
18,693,249,224 km
Semi-major axis a 82.02145661 AU
12,270,235,285 km
Orbital period period 742.8471 years
271,324.8948 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp March 19, 1695
2,340,223.9794 JD
Next perihelion transit January 28, 2438
2,611,548.8742 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 17.203529495863°
Longitude of the ascending node node 245.2483380355°
Mean anomaly M 159.71828695152°
Mean motion n 0.00132682°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of asteroid 2018 VG18 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 VG18 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 17 2025 04h 55m 25s +18° 37’ 00” 24.92 Taurus
Jun 18 2025 04h 55m 27s +18° 37’ 02” 24.92 Taurus
Jun 19 2025 04h 55m 29s +18° 37’ 04” 24.93 Taurus
Jun 20 2025 04h 55m 31s +18° 37’ 06” 24.93 Taurus
Jun 21 2025 04h 55m 33s +18° 37’ 08” 24.93 Taurus
Jun 22 2025 04h 55m 35s +18° 37’ 10” 24.93 Taurus
Jun 23 2025 04h 55m 37s +18° 37’ 12” 24.93 Taurus
Jun 24 2025 04h 55m 39s +18° 37’ 14” 24.93 Taurus
Jun 25 2025 04h 55m 41s +18° 37’ 15” 24.93 Taurus
Jun 26 2025 04h 55m 43s +18° 37’ 17” 24.93 Taurus
Jun 27 2025 04h 55m 45s +18° 37’ 19” 24.94 Taurus
Jun 28 2025 04h 55m 47s +18° 37’ 20” 24.94 Taurus
Jun 29 2025 04h 55m 49s +18° 37’ 22” 24.94 Taurus
Jun 30 2025 04h 55m 51s +18° 37’ 24” 24.94 Taurus

Additional Resources on TheSkyLive

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