This object moves — fetching its current position…
Score breakdown
· 6 badges
25 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon34 pts → Rare
Crosses Earth's orbit+8
Near-Earth object+5
Apollo: crosses Earth's orbit+4
Stony asteroid+4
Steeply tilted orbit (i > 40°)+4
Catalogue designation only+0
Total score25
9 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
🌠Near-Earth object· +5
🎯Crosses Earth's orbit· +8
🔢Catalogue designation only
🏛️Apollo: crosses Earth's orbit· +4
🧗Stony asteroid· +4
📏Steeply tilted orbit (i > 40°)· +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 0.97 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Earth.
🔁One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 2.1 years.
🥏How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 0.97 and 2.35 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 1.22 m/s. A determined jump would launch you off it and into your own orbit around the Sun.
By the numbers
📐Size. Roughly 2 km across.
Properties
albedo
0.168
aphelion au
2.35
designation
85818
diameter km
2.028
eccentricity
0.4161
full name
85818 (1998 XM4)
h mag
15.42
inclination
62.72
mean motion deg day
0.4623
moid au
0.11
name
(85818) 1998 XM4
number only
yes
orbit class
APO
perihelion au
0.967
rotation period h
19.451
semi major au
1.657
spec taxonomy
S
spect
S
About (85818) 1998 XM4
(85818) 1998 XM4 is an uncommon neo. It has spectral type S and swings within 0.967 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, (85818) 1998 XM4 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 (85818) 1998 XM4 is an uncommon neo
(85818) 1998 XM4 scores 25 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 9 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 6 science badges — Near-Earth object, Crosses Earth's orbit, Catalogue designation only, Apollo: crosses Earth's orbit, Stony asteroid and Steeply tilted orbit (i > 40°) — 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.