This object moves — fetching its current position…
Score breakdown
· 5 badges
23 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon34 pts → Rare
Crosses Earth's orbit+8
Carbonaceous — as old as the solar system+6
Near-Earth object+5
Apollo: crosses Earth's orbit+4
Catalogue designation only+0
Total score23
11 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
🌠Near-Earth object· +5
🎯Crosses Earth's orbit· +8
🔢Catalogue designation only
🏛️Apollo: crosses Earth's orbit· +4
🖤Carbonaceous — as old as the solar system· +6
✨ 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 0.61 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Venus.
🔁One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 1.2 years.
🥏How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 0.61 and 1.68 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
🧱Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is about 7.2 football pitches across.
Standing on it
🦘Don't jump. Escape velocity here is only around 0.46 m/s. A determined jump would launch you off it and into your own orbit around the Sun.
By the numbers
📐Estimated size. Nobody has measured its size directly. Assuming it reflects light like a typical asteroid, its brightness implies something roughly 759 metres across.
Properties
aphelion au
1.68
designation
136793
eccentricity
0.4654
full name
136793 (1997 AQ18)
h mag
18.35
inclination
17.37
mean motion deg day
0.8023
moid au
0.186
name
(136793) 1997 AQ18
number only
yes
orbit class
APO
perihelion au
0.613
semi major au
1.147
spec taxonomy
C
spect
C
About (136793) 1997 AQ18
(136793) 1997 AQ18 is an uncommon neo. It has spectral type C and swings within 0.613 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, (136793) 1997 AQ18 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 (136793) 1997 AQ18 is an uncommon neo
(136793) 1997 AQ18 scores 23 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 11 points 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 Carbonaceous — as old as the solar system — 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.