About (88213) 2001 AF2
(88213) 2001 AF2 is a rare neo. It swings within 0.386 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 35 EP
(88213) 2001 AF2
Position computed live · sbdb
Loading sky survey…
Live ephemeris
This object moves — fetching its current position…
Score breakdown
· 6 badgesRare 50 pts → Epic
- Darker than charcoal +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 35
15 more points to reach Epic.
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
- Darker than charcoal · +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 0.39 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Mercury.
- One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 340 days.
- How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 0.39 and 1.52 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
- Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is about 8.7 football pitches across.
Standing on it
- Sunlight there. At closest approach the Sun beats down about 6.7 times harder than it ever does on Earth.
- Don't jump. Escape velocity here is only around 0.55 m/s. A determined jump would launch you off it and into your own orbit around the Sun.
Properties
- albedo
- 0.028
- aphelion au
- 1.52
- designation
- 88213
- diameter km
- 0.912
- eccentricity
- 0.5953
- full name
- 88213 (2001 AF2)
- h mag
- 19.48
- inclination
- 17.81
- mean motion deg day
- 1.058
- moid au
- 0.172
- name
- (88213) 2001 AF2
- number only
- yes
- orbit class
- ATE
- perihelion au
- 0.386
- semi major au
- 0.954
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, (88213) 2001 AF2 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 (88213) 2001 AF2 is a rare neo
(88213) 2001 AF2 scores 35 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 15 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 6 science badges — Near-Earth object, Tiny fragment (<1 km), Crosses Earth's orbit, Catalogue designation only, Aten: mostly inside Earth's orbit and Darker than charcoal — 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.