2018 YL
2018 YL is an Amor-type near-Earth asteroid that approaches Earth from beyond our orbit without crossing it, orbiting the Sun at 2.834 AU once every 4.77 yr.
Orbit and dynamics
The path is an ellipse reaching 1.103 AU from the Sun at perihelion and 4.565 AU at aphelion, a radial span of 3.462 AU.
Applying Kepler's third law to a = 2.834 AU gives an orbital period of 4.77 yr, or about 1,743 days.
The high eccentricity (0.611) produces a strongly elongated orbit, so the object spends most of its time far from the Sun.
The orbital plane is tilted 12.16° relative to the ecliptic.
By the vis-viva equation its orbital speed rises to 36 km/s at perihelion and falls to 8.7 km/s at aphelion.
Its perihelion lies just outside Earth's orbit, which is why it is classed as Earth-approaching rather than Earth-crossing.
Size and surface
No direct size measurement is available; from an absolute magnitude of H = 22.6 and an assumed geometric albedo of 0.14, the diameter works out to roughly 0.11 km.
Observation record and orbit quality
The current orbit solution is based on 37 observations and has a weighted RMS residual of 0.405 arcseconds.
Condition code U = 6 indicates a moderately constrained orbit; predictions decades ahead still carry noticeable uncertainty.
About these computed values
Orbital periods, perihelion and aphelion speeds, and diameter estimates on this page are computed by SpaceAtlas from the JPL SBDB orbital elements. They are derived quantities, not values copied from the source catalogue.
Orbital Parameters
Orbit diagram
The Sun sits at the focus (orange). Earth's orbit is the grey circle at 1 AU. The red dot marks the object's position at the catalog epoch.
3D orbit (interactive)
Drag to rotate; scroll or pinch to zoom. The Sun is at the focus (orange), Earth's orbit is the grey ring at 1 AU, and the red dot marks the object's current position.
Close approaches
Predicted close approaches to Earth, from NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS).
| Date (UTC) | Miss distance | Velocity |
|---|---|---|
| 2038-Jan-15 23:57 | 0.167486 AU 25055522 km |
8.03 km/s |
Distances in astronomical units (AU) and kilometres. Source: NASA/JPL CNEOS Close Approach Data API.
