2018 TF5
ephemeris	date	magn	radius	delta	ra	dec	elong	phase
Today	17 Mar 2026	37.5	0.677 AU	0.322 AU	23h30m	-08°29'	7.9°	168.3°

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 TF5 are:

            e (Eccentricity)                : 0.3686016
            a (Semimajor axis)              : 0.9047632
            i (Inclination)                 : 7.61322
            Ω (Longitude of ascending node) : 196.47858
            ω (Argument of perihelion)      : 47.55359
            M (Mean anomaly)                : 195.65408
            Epoch                           : 2025 Nov 21

            L (Longitude of perihelion)     : 243.77943
            B (Latitude of perihelion)      : 5.61031
            P (Orbital period in years)     : 0.86            
        

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
2026-03-17 00:00 UT   23 30 00.1   -08 29 31     0.322    0.677    7.9  168.3   209   37.5 
2026-03-17 16:26 UT   23 27 37.4   -08 15 00     0.328    0.673    8.6  167.2   216   36.7 
2026-03-18 00:00 UT   23 26 33.7   -08 08 20     0.331    0.671    8.9  166.7   219   36.3 
2026-03-19 00:00 UT   23 23 20.7   -07 47 17     0.339    0.664   10.1  164.7   227   35.1 
2026-03-20 00:00 UT   23 20 21.3   -07 26 23     0.348    0.658   11.4  162.6   232   34.2 
2026-03-21 00:00 UT   23 17 35.9   -07 05 38     0.358    0.652   12.8  160.3   237   33.3 
2026-03-22 00:00 UT   23 15 04.8   -06 45 04     0.368    0.646   14.1  158.0   240   32.6 
2026-03-23 00:00 UT   23 12 48.0   -06 24 41     0.378    0.640   15.4  155.6   243   32.0 
2026-03-24 00:00 UT   23 10 45.7   -06 04 28     0.389    0.634   16.7  153.2   245   31.4 
2026-03-25 00:00 UT   23 08 57.8   -05 44 27     0.400    0.629   18.0  150.7   246   31.0 
2026-03-26 00:00 UT   23 07 24.4   -05 24 36     0.411    0.624   19.2  148.3   248   30.6 
2026-03-27 00:00 UT   23 06 05.4   -05 04 55     0.423    0.619   20.4  145.9   249   30.2 
2026-03-28 00:00 UT   23 05 00.5   -04 45 24     0.436    0.614   21.5  143.5   250   29.9 
2026-03-29 00:00 UT   23 04 09.7   -04 26 01     0.448    0.609   22.6  141.0   251   29.6 
2026-03-30 00:00 UT   23 03 32.7   -04 06 46     0.461    0.605   23.6  138.6   251   29.3 
2026-03-31 00:00 UT   23 03 09.2   -03 47 38     0.475    0.600   24.6  136.2   252   29.1 
2026-04-01 00:00 UT   23 02 59.0   -03 28 35     0.489    0.596   25.5  133.9   252   28.8 

    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.