This object moves — fetching its current position…
Score breakdown
· 5 badges
21 pts · Common
Common22 pts → Uncommon
Crosses Earth's orbit+8
Near-Earth object+5
Apollo: crosses Earth's orbit+4
Stony asteroid+4
Catalogue designation only+0
Total score21
1 more point to reach Uncommon.
Badges
🌠Near-Earth object· +5
🎯Crosses Earth's orbit· +8
🔢Catalogue designation only
🏛️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 0.82 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Earth.
🔁One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 1.8 years.
🥏How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 0.82 and 2.12 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 1.13 m/s. A determined jump would launch you off it and into your own orbit around the Sun.
By the numbers
📐Size. Roughly 1.9 km across.
Properties
albedo
0.22
aphelion au
2.12
designation
16834
diameter km
1.87
eccentricity
0.4421
full name
16834 (1997 WU22)
h mag
15.75
inclination
16
mean motion deg day
0.5542
moid au
0.146
name
(16834) 1997 WU22
number only
yes
orbit class
APO
perihelion au
0.819
rotation period h
9.345
semi major au
1.468
spec taxonomy
S
spect
S
About (16834) 1997 WU22
(16834) 1997 WU22 is a common neo. It has spectral type S and swings within 0.819 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.
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, (16834) 1997 WU22 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 (16834) 1997 WU22 is a common neo
(16834) 1997 WU22 scores 21 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 1 point would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Near-Earth object, Crosses Earth's orbit, Catalogue designation only, 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.