2022 WH4
2022 WH4 is an Aten-type near-Earth asteroid whose orbit lies mostly inside that of Earth, with a semi-major axis of 0.967 AU and a period of 0.95 yr.
Orbit and dynamics
The path is an ellipse reaching 0.803 AU from the Sun at perihelion and 1.131 AU at aphelion, a radial span of 0.328 AU.
Applying Kepler's third law to a = 0.967 AU gives an orbital period of 0.95 yr, or about 347 days.
An eccentricity of 0.17 makes the orbit moderately elongated.
The orbital plane is tilted 14.22° relative to the ecliptic.
By the vis-viva equation its orbital speed rises to 35.9 km/s at perihelion and falls to 25.5 km/s at aphelion.
Because q < 1 AU and Q > 1 AU, this orbit geometrically intersects the region of Earth's orbit.
Size and surface
No direct size measurement is available; from an absolute magnitude of H = 23.89 and an assumed geometric albedo of 0.14, the diameter works out to roughly 0.06 km.
Observation record and orbit quality
The current orbit solution is based on 28 observations and has a weighted RMS residual of 0.5323 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2039-Aug-11 04:39 | 0.425883 AU 63711229 km |
17.82 km/s |
| 2040-Jul-14 18:45 | 0.205425 AU 30731120 km |
11.00 km/s |
| 2041-May-31 22:02 | 0.164487 AU 24606921 km |
9.34 km/s |
| 2041-Oct-31 03:50 | 0.203682 AU 30470399 km |
7.74 km/s |
| 2042-Apr-09 05:01 | 0.252055 AU 37706855 km |
8.81 km/s |
| 2042-Dec-06 02:23 | 0.064875 AU 9705164 km |
8.60 km/s |
| 2043-Dec-07 22:07 | 0.250675 AU 37500509 km |
15.07 km/s |
| 2059-Aug-02 01:24 | 0.264400 AU 39553740 km |
14.57 km/s |
| 2062-Dec-09 13:07 | 0.074478 AU 11141713 km |
10.66 km/s |
| 2063-Dec-04 15:48 | 0.293347 AU 43884082 km |
18.49 km/s |
Distances in astronomical units (AU) and kilometres. Source: NASA/JPL CNEOS Close Approach Data API.
