About Marsyas
Marsyas is a rare neo. It swings within 0.488 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 43 EP
Marsyas
Position computed live · sbdb
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Live ephemeris
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Score breakdown
· 6 badgesRare 50 pts → Epic
- Wildly elliptical orbit +10
- Retrograde orbit +8
- Crosses Earth's orbit +8
- Has a proper name +8
- Near-Earth object +5
- Apollo: crosses Earth's orbit +4
Total score 43
7 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
- Near-Earth object · +5
- Retrograde orbit · +8
- Wildly elliptical orbit · +10
- Crosses Earth's orbit · +8
- Has a proper name · +8
- Apollo: crosses Earth's orbit · +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.
Hard to believe
- Against the traffic. It goes round the Sun backwards, against the direction every planet and almost everything else travels.
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 0.49 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Venus.
- One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 4 years.
- How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 0.49 and 4.57 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
- Sunlight there. At closest approach the Sun beats down about 4.2 times harder than it ever does on Earth.
Properties
- aphelion au
- 4.57
- designation
- 343158
- eccentricity
- 0.8068
- full name
- 343158 Marsyas (2009 HC82)
- h mag
- 16.31
- inclination
- 154.35
- mean motion deg day
- 0.2454
- moid au
- 0.148
- name
- Marsyas
- named
- yes
- orbit class
- APO
- perihelion au
- 0.488
- semi major au
- 2.527
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, Marsyas 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 Marsyas is a rare neo
Marsyas scores 43 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 6 science badges — Near-Earth object, Retrograde orbit, Wildly elliptical orbit, Crosses Earth's orbit, Has a proper name and Apollo: crosses Earth's orbit — 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.