2018 AM12

Very small Aten-class Asteroid

Near-Earth Potentially Hazardous
Space Reference » Aten-class Asteroids » 2018 AM12

Key Facts

  • Categorized as a Aten-class Asteroid
  • Comparable in size to a football field
  • Will pass within 28,115,084 km of Earth in 2040
  • Classified as a Near Earth Asteroid (NEA)
  • Classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA)
  • See orbit simulation

Overview

2018 AM12 is a very small asteroid whose orbit could bring it in close proximity to Earth. NASA JPL has classified 2018 AM12 as a "Potentially Hazardous Asteroid" due to its predicted close pass(es) with Earth.

2018 AM12 orbits the sun every 321 days (0.88 years), coming as close as 0.81 AU and reaching as far as 1.02 AU from the sun. Based on its brightness and the way it reflects light, 2018 AM12 is probably between 0.156 to 0.348 kilometers in diameter, making it a small to average asteroid, very roughly comparable in size to a football field.

The rotation of 2018 AM12 has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 0.21 hours.

Close Approaches

2018 AM12'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.

2018 AM12 has 23 close approaches predicted in the coming decades:

Date Distance from Earth (km) Velocity (km/s)
Jan. 8, 2040 28,115,084 11.634
Jan. 9, 2047 4,855,689 11.358
June 26, 2047 27,450,886 13.004
Jan. 11, 2054 10,911,214 12.320
July 8, 2054 25,649,403 12.674
Jan. 8, 2083 16,111,785 11.224
Jan. 10, 2090 2,996,676 11.728
July 2, 2090 25,327,438 12.754
Jan. 10, 2112 13,324,998 11.204
June 21, 2112 29,905,273 13.257
Jan. 13, 2119 14,755,093 12.686
July 13, 2119 26,136,358 12.592
Jan. 10, 2141 2,435,801 11.471
June 29, 2141 26,544,735 12.912
Jan. 13, 2148 14,777,707 12.687
July 12, 2148 26,407,538 12.631
Jan. 9, 2177 19,101,209 11.258
Jan. 11, 2184 3,339,080 11.428
June 28, 2184 27,127,889 12.971
Jan. 11, 2191 2,274,463 11.683
July 3, 2191 25,626,260 12.785
Jan. 14, 2198 23,371,039 13.663
July 20, 2198 29,114,066 12.585

Images and Observations

2018 AM12's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Jan. 9, 2011. It was last officially observed on Jan. 15, 2019. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 125 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 2018 AM12:

References

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Orbital Elements

  • Epoch: 2460200.5 JD
  • Semi-major axis: 0.9171 AU
  • Eccentricity: 0.1163
  • Inclination: 21.67°
  • Longitude of Ascending Node: 288.85°
  • Argument of Periapsis: 51.07°
  • Mean Anomaly: 280.12°

Physical Characteristics

  • Diameter: ~0.201 km
  • Magnitude: 21.16

Derived Characteristics

  • Orbit Period: 321 days (0.88 years)
  • Avg. Orbit Speed: 31.08 km/s
  • Aphelion Distance: 1.02 AU
  • Perihelion Distance: 0.81 AU
  • Rotation Period: 0.21 hours

Map Comparison

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Orbit Simulation

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Sky Map

The position of 2018 AM12 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 2018 AM12 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.