About 2212 Hephaistos (1978 SB)
2212 Hephaistos (1978 SB) is a rare neo. It swings within 0.358 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
Its highly elliptical path swings between scorching and frozen each lap.
Rare neo 35 EP
2212 Hephaistos (1978 SB)
Position computed live · sbdb
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Live ephemeris
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Score breakdown
· 4 badgesRare 46 pts → Epic
- Crosses Earth's orbit +12
- Wildly elliptical orbit +10
- Has a proper name +8
- Near-Earth object +5
Total score 35
11 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
- Near-Earth object · +5
- Wildly elliptical orbit · +10
- Crosses Earth's orbit · +12
- Has a proper name · +8
Trivia
How we found it
- Named. Notable enough to have earned a proper name, not just a catalogue number.
Cosmic context
- Wild orbit. Its highly elliptical path swings between scorching and frozen each lap.
- Size. Roughly 5.7 km across.
- Ancient. A leftover from the Solar System's birth, older than every continent on Earth.
Properties
- diameter km
- 5.7
- eccentricity
- 0.8346
- h mag
- 13.45
- inclination
- 11.2
- name
- 2212 Hephaistos (1978 SB)
- named
- yes
- orbit class
- APO
- perihelion au
- 0.3584
- semi major au
- 2.167
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, 2212 Hephaistos (1978 SB) is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. Because it moves against the background stars, the live position panel on this page tracks where it is right now. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.
Why 2212 Hephaistos (1978 SB) is a rare neo
2212 Hephaistos (1978 SB) scores 35 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 11 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 4 science badges — Near-Earth object, Wildly elliptical orbit, Crosses Earth's orbit and Has a proper name — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.