2013 WT45

Very small Apollo-class Asteroid

Near-Earth Potentially Hazardous
Space Reference » Apollo-class Asteroids » 2013 WT45

Key Facts

  • Categorized as a Apollo-class Asteroid
  • Comparable in size to a football field (0.19 km diameter)
  • Will pass within 25,957,001 km of Earth in 2038
  • Classified as a Near Earth Asteroid (NEA)
  • Classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA)
  • See orbit simulation

Overview

2013 WT45 is a very small asteroid whose orbit crosses the orbit of Earth. NASA JPL has classified 2013 WT45 as a "Potentially Hazardous Asteroid" due to its predicted close pass(es) with Earth.

2013 WT45 orbits the sun every 760 days (2.08 years), coming as close as 0.87 AU and reaching as far as 2.39 AU from the sun. 2013 WT45 is about 0.2 kilometers in diameter, making it a small to average asteroid, comparable in size to a football field.

Close Approaches

2013 WT45's orbit is 0.01 AU from Earth's orbit at its closest point. This means that its orbit is relatively close to Earth's orbit.

2013 WT45 has 13 close approaches predicted in the coming decades:

Date Distance from Earth (km) Velocity (km/s)
Dec. 24, 2038 25,957,001 13.394
April 14, 2041 7,909,235 10.285
Jan. 4, 2066 22,884,422 10.051
April 24, 2068 5,397,071 12.509
Dec. 26, 2090 25,869,363 13.207
April 17, 2093 5,194,628 10.713
Jan. 11, 2118 24,077,279 9.132
April 28, 2120 10,351,633 13.408
March 22, 2145 21,331,838 9.160
Jan. 6, 2170 23,178,217 10.200
April 26, 2172 6,606,507 12.720
Dec. 30, 2194 24,588,399 12.352
April 22, 2197 984,212 11.415

Images and Observations

2013 WT45's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Nov. 1, 2013. It was last officially observed on May 29, 2016. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 167 observations used to determine its orbit.

Accessibility and Exploration

This asteroid is not considered a viable target for human exploration by the NHATS study.

Similar Objects

These objects have orbits that share similar characteristics to the orbit of 2013 WT45:

References

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Orbital Elements

  • Epoch: 2460200.5 JD
  • Semi-major axis: 1.63 AU
  • Eccentricity: 0.4672
  • Inclination: 9.34°
  • Longitude of Ascending Node: 33.02°
  • Argument of Periapsis: 122.1°
  • Mean Anomaly: 215.09°

Physical Characteristics

  • Diameter: 0.18500 km
  • Magnitude: 20.36
  • Albedo: 0.391

Derived Characteristics

  • Orbit Period: 760 days (2.08 years)
  • Avg. Orbit Speed: 23.33 km/s
  • Aphelion Distance: 2.39 AU
  • Perihelion Distance: 0.87 AU

Map Comparison

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Orbit Simulation

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Sky Map

The position of 2013 WT45 is indicated by a ◯ pink circle. Note that the object may not be in your current field of view. Use the controls below to adjust position, location, and time.

Size Rendering

The below comparison is an artistic rendering that uses available data on the diameter of 2013 WT45 to create an approximate landscape rendering with New York City in the background. This approximation is built for full-resolution desktop browsers. Shape, color, and texture of asteroid are imagined.