About Tara
Tara is an uncommon neo. It swings within 1.094 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
An Amor-class object. It approaches Earth's orbit from outside without ever crossing it — named for the asteroid Amor, which swept past at 16 million km in 1932.
Uncommon neo 27 EP
Tara
Position computed live · sbdb
Loading sky survey…
Live ephemeris
This object moves — fetching its current position…
Score breakdown
· 4 badgesUncommon 34 pts → Rare
- Brilliantly reflective surface +10
- Has a proper name +8
- Near-Earth object +5
- Amor: shadows Earth's orbit from outside +4
Total score 27
7 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
- Near-Earth object · +5
- Has a proper name · +8
- Amor: shadows Earth's orbit from outside · +4
- Brilliantly reflective surface · +10
Trivia
What it actually is
- Its orbit family. An Amor-class object. It approaches Earth's orbit from outside without ever crossing it — named for the asteroid Amor, which swept past at 16 million km in 1932.
- Closest approach. At its nearest it comes within 1.09 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Mars.
- One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 3.3 years.
- How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 1.09 and 3.35 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
- Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is roughly 0.2× the height of Mount Everest.
Standing on it
- Don't jump. Escape velocity here is only around 0.81 m/s. A determined jump would launch you off it and into your own orbit around the Sun.
By the numbers
- Size. Roughly 1.3 km across.
What's in a name
- Named. Notable enough to have earned a proper name, not just a catalogue number.
Properties
- albedo
- 0.488
- aphelion au
- 3.35
- designation
- 5863
- diameter km
- 1.345
- eccentricity
- 0.5074
- full name
- 5863 Tara (1983 RB)
- h mag
- 15.81
- inclination
- 19.51
- mean motion deg day
- 0.2979
- moid au
- 0.231
- name
- Tara
- named
- yes
- orbit class
- AMO
- perihelion au
- 1.094
- rotation period h
- 5.867
- semi major au
- 2.221
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, Tara 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 Tara is an uncommon neo
Tara scores 27 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 4 science badges — Near-Earth object, Has a proper name, Amor: shadows Earth's orbit from outside and Brilliantly reflective surface — 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.