← Back to dex - Metal-rich asteroid +14
- Near-Earth object +5
- Amor: shadows Earth's orbit from outside +4
- Catalogue designation only +0
Total score 23
11 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
- 🌠 Near-Earth object · +5
- 🔢 Catalogue designation only
- 💘 Amor: shadows Earth's orbit from outside · +4
- ⚙️ Metal-rich asteroid · +14
✨ Trivia
What it actually is
- 🛸 Its orbit family. An Amor-class object. It approaches Earth's orbit from outside without ever crossing it — named for the asteroid Amor, which swept past at 16 million km in 1932.
- 🌞 Closest approach. At its nearest it comes within 1.17 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Mars.
- 🔁 One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 2.9 years.
- 🥏 How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 1.17 and 2.91 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
- 🧱 Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is about 3 football pitches across.
Standing on it
- 🦘 Don't jump. Escape velocity here is only around 0.19 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 319 metres across.
What's in a name
- 🔢 Designation. Known only by its catalogue designation — no name yet.
Properties
- aphelion au
- 2.91
- designation
- 2001 WH2
- eccentricity
- 0.4254
- full name
- (2001 WH2)
- h mag
- 20.23
- inclination
- 15.02
- mean motion deg day
- 0.3377
- moid au
- 0.198
- name
- 2001 WH2
- number only
- yes
- orbit class
- AMO
- perihelion au
- 1.173
- semi major au
- 2.042
- spec taxonomy
- X
- spect
- X
About 2001 WH2
2001 WH2 is an uncommon neo. It has spectral type X and swings within 1.173 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
An Amor-class object. It approaches Earth's orbit from outside without ever crossing it — named for the asteroid Amor, which swept past at 16 million km in 1932.
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, 2001 WH2 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 2001 WH2 is an uncommon neo
2001 WH2 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 4 science badges — Near-Earth object, Catalogue designation only, Amor: shadows Earth's orbit from outside and Metal-rich asteroid — 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.