2018 KS
ephemeris	date	magn	radius	delta	ra	dec	elong	phase
Today	31 Jan 2026	27.2	1.179 AU	0.289 AU	12h42m	+37°38'	126.3°	42.4°

The interactive orbit chart above shows the body's path through the solar system and its position at the given date. Green and blue lines are shown perpendicular to the ecliptic plane: Green if the path is above the ecliptic plane, blue if it is below. (Left-click and drag to rotate the view; Right-click and drag to move the view; Use scroll wheel to zoom in our out.)

The orbital elements of 2018 KS are:

            e (Eccentricity)                : 0.1999533
            a (Semimajor axis)              : 1.0070265
            i (Inclination)                 : 8.86704
            Ω (Longitude of ascending node) : 59.29524
            ω (Argument of perihelion)      : 284.69116
            M (Mean anomaly)                : 73.55128
            Epoch                           : 2025 Nov 21

            L (Longitude of perihelion)     : -15.84372
            B (Latitude of perihelion)      : -8.57493
            P (Orbital period in years)     : 1.01            
        

The light curve chart below shows the estimated development of the minor planet's magnitude.

The all-sky chart below shows the path of the minor planet over the same period as the light curve. The current position is marked yellow.

The following chart shows the path of the minor planet in the next few days. The field of view is optimized for (~10x50) binoculars and finderscopes.

Ephemerides:

Date       Time       RA (2000)    DEC (2000)    delta   radius  elong  phase   PA    magn
2026-01-31 00:00 UT   12 42 11.0   +37 38 22     0.289    1.179  126.3   42.4   265   27.2 
2026-01-31 10:33 UT   12 41 52.4   +37 52 32     0.288    1.180  126.6   42.1   264   27.2 
2026-02-01 00:00 UT   12 41 26.7   +38 10 38     0.287    1.181  127.0   41.8   263   27.2 
2026-02-02 00:00 UT   12 40 35.0   +38 43 04     0.286    1.182  127.7   41.3   262   27.2 
2026-02-03 00:00 UT   12 39 35.9   +39 15 37     0.284    1.184  128.4   40.7   260   27.1 
2026-02-04 00:00 UT   12 38 29.1   +39 48 13     0.283    1.185  129.1   40.2   258   27.1 
2026-02-05 00:00 UT   12 37 14.3   +40 20 51     0.282    1.186  129.8   39.7   256   27.1 
2026-02-06 00:00 UT   12 35 51.4   +40 53 25     0.281    1.188  130.5   39.2   255   27.1 
2026-02-07 00:00 UT   12 34 20.2   +41 25 53     0.280    1.189  131.1   38.7   253   27.1 
2026-02-08 00:00 UT   12 32 40.5   +41 58 11     0.279    1.190  131.7   38.2   251   27.0 
2026-02-09 00:00 UT   12 30 52.2   +42 30 13     0.278    1.191  132.3   37.8   249   27.0 
2026-02-10 00:00 UT   12 28 55.0   +43 01 57     0.277    1.192  132.9   37.3   246   27.0 
2026-02-11 00:00 UT   12 26 48.9   +43 33 16     0.276    1.194  133.4   36.9   244   27.0 
2026-02-12 00:00 UT   12 24 33.8   +44 04 07     0.275    1.195  134.0   36.5   242   27.0 
2026-02-13 00:00 UT   12 22 09.6   +44 34 23     0.274    1.196  134.4   36.1   240   27.0 

    Terminology:
            
    delta:  distance between minor planet and earth in AU
    radius: distance between minor planet and sun in AU
    magn:   magnitude (brightness) estimate    
    ra:     right ascension in hours (24h = 360deg)
    dec:    declination in degrees
    elong:  elongation in degrees (angle sun-earth-minor planet)    
    phase:  phase angle in degrees (angle sun-minor planet-earth)        
    AU:     Astronomical Unit (mean distance between earth and sun: 149597870.7 km
    

Orbital elements provided by the MPC (Minor Planet Center).
Calculations by a modified version of AAPlus, a C# implementation of the AA+ project by PJ Naughter from the algorithms presented in the book "Astronomical Algorithms" by Jean Meeus.
NGC2000 dso catalog and star labels from VizieR as provided by the Strasbourg astronomical Data Center.
Tycho2 catalog from the ESO archive.