About (87309) 2000 QP
(87309) 2000 QP is an epic neo. It swings within 0.455 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.
Epic neo 57 EP
(87309) 2000 QP
Position computed live · sbdb
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Live ephemeris
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Score breakdown
· 7 badgesEpic 78 pts → Anomaly
- Spinning past the rubble-pile limit +22
- Brilliantly reflective surface +10
- Crosses Earth's orbit +8
- Aten: mostly inside Earth's orbit +8
- Near-Earth object +5
- Tiny fragment (<1 km) +4
- Catalogue designation only +0
Total score 57
21 more points to reach Anomaly.
Badges
- Near-Earth object · +5
- Tiny fragment (<1 km) · +4
- Crosses Earth's orbit · +8
- Catalogue designation only
- Aten: mostly inside Earth's orbit · +8
- Spinning past the rubble-pile limit · +22
- Brilliantly reflective surface · +10
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 Aten-class object, spending most of its time inside Earth's orbit and crossing ours from the sunward side — which makes this family wretchedly hard to spot against the daylight.
- Closest approach. At its nearest it comes within 0.46 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Venus.
- One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 285 days.
- How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 0.45 and 1.24 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
- Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is about 5.4 football pitches across.
Standing on it
- Sunlight there. At closest approach the Sun beats down about 4.8 times harder than it ever does on Earth.
- Don't jump. Escape velocity here is only around 0.34 m/s. A determined jump would launch you off it and into your own orbit around the Sun.
Properties
- albedo
- 0.499
- aphelion au
- 1.24
- designation
- 87309
- diameter km
- 0.568
- eccentricity
- 0.4632
- full name
- 87309 (2000 QP)
- h mag
- 17.59
- inclination
- 34.74
- mean motion deg day
- 1.263
- moid au
- 0.202
- name
- (87309) 2000 QP
- number only
- yes
- orbit class
- ATE
- perihelion au
- 0.455
- rotation period h
- 2.1651
- semi major au
- 0.8475
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, (87309) 2000 QP 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 (87309) 2000 QP is an epic neo
(87309) 2000 QP scores 57 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 21 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 7 science badges — Near-Earth object, Tiny fragment (<1 km), Crosses Earth's orbit, Catalogue designation only, Aten: mostly inside Earth's orbit, Spinning past the rubble-pile limit 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.