About Hephaistos
Hephaistos is a rare neo. It has spectral type SG and swings within 0.358 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
Its orbit genuinely intersects Earth's track around the Sun. The two paths cross; only the timing keeps them apart.
Rare neo 39 EP
Hephaistos
Position computed live · sbdb
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Live ephemeris
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Score breakdown
· 6 badgesRare 50 pts → Epic
- Wildly elliptical orbit +10
- Crosses Earth's orbit +8
- Has a proper name +8
- Near-Earth object +5
- Apollo: crosses Earth's orbit +4
- Stony asteroid +4
Total score 39
11 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
- Near-Earth object · +5
- Wildly elliptical orbit · +10
- Crosses Earth's orbit · +8
- Has a proper name · +8
- Apollo: crosses Earth's orbit · +4
- Stony asteroid · +4
Trivia
What makes it special
- It crosses our path. Its orbit genuinely intersects Earth's track around the Sun. The two paths cross; only the timing keeps them apart.
What it actually is
- Its orbit family. An Apollo-class object: its orbit is wider than Earth's but crosses it. Most known Earth-crossers belong to this family.
- Closest approach. At its nearest it comes within 0.36 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Mercury.
- One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 3.2 years.
- How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 0.36 and 3.98 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
- Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is roughly 0.6× the height of Mount Everest.
Standing on it
- Sunlight there. At closest approach the Sun beats down about 7.8 times harder than it ever does on Earth.
By the numbers
- Size. Roughly 5.7 km across.
Properties
- albedo
- 0.163
- aphelion au
- 3.98
- designation
- 2212
- diameter km
- 5.7
- eccentricity
- 0.8346
- full name
- 2212 Hephaistos (1978 SB)
- h mag
- 13.45
- inclination
- 11.2
- mean motion deg day
- 0.3089
- moid au
- 0.112
- name
- Hephaistos
- named
- yes
- orbit class
- APO
- perihelion au
- 0.358
- rotation period h
- 48
- semi major au
- 2.167
- spec taxonomy
- SG
- spect
- SG
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, Hephaistos 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 Hephaistos is a rare neo
Hephaistos scores 39 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 6 science badges — Near-Earth object, Wildly elliptical orbit, Crosses Earth's orbit, Has a proper name, Apollo: crosses Earth's orbit and Stony asteroid — 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.