// Orbit
The orbit of 2026 ED138
2026 ED138 takes about 282 years to go round the Sun on a mildly stretched orbit tilted about 24.5° to the planets. It swings between about 37 and 49 AU, entirely inside the range Pluto covers, and last passed its closest point to the Sun in 1926. Today it is about 47 AU away: press reports said 46 AU, but JPL Horizons and the MPC ephemeris both give 47.2 AU for early November 2026. It sits at the edge of Neptune’s 12:7 resonance, like Haumea, but only 46% of simulated orbits stay resonant, so that is not settled (Holman et al.). The figures below are fetched from the JPL Small-Body Database every day.
About 7055 million km from the Sun, computed 1 Nov 2026 from JPL's orbit.
Perihelion 36.9 AU, aphelion 49.0 AU, eccentricity 0.142.
Inclined to the plane the planets orbit in, far more than Pluto's 17°.
Absolute magnitude. Bright for a trans-Neptunian object, which is why it is thought to be large.
115 observations from 30 Dec 1937 to 11 Jul 2026, including precoveries in old survey plates.
Not yet a confirmed dwarf planet: its size and shape still need measuring.
Orbit solution 2026-10-29 11:09:54, JPL Small-Body Database. Updated daily.
Orbital elements
Epoch JD 2461200.5 TDB · 115 observations · condition code 2 · solution 2026-10-29 11:09:54 · JSON
| Element | Value | Uncertainty (1σ) |
|---|---|---|
| eccentricity | 0.142 | ± 2.3e-06 |
| semi-major axis | 42.9 au | ± 0.00053 |
| perihelion distance | 36.9 au | ± 0.00054 |
| inclination; angle with respect to x-y ecliptic plane | 24.5 deg | ± 2.5e-05 |
| longitude of the ascending node | 323 deg | ± 8.3e-05 |
| argument of perihelion | 168 deg | ± 0.0042 |
| mean anomaly | 128 deg | ± 0.0049 |
| time of perihelion passage | 2.42455e+06 TDB | ± 0.73 |
| sidereal orbital period | 103000 d | ± 1.9 |
| mean motion | 0.0035 deg/d | ± 6.5e-08 |
| aphelion distance | 49 au | ± 0.0006 |
How the orbit has been refined
Each time JPL publishes a new solution, we log it here.
| Solution | Obs | Arc (days) | a (AU) | e | i (°) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-29 11:09:54 | 115 | 32335 | 42.9 | 0.142 | 24.5 |