This object moves — fetching its current position…
Score breakdown
· 4 badges
31 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon34 pts → Rare
Passes within two lunar distances of Earth's orbit+18
Aten: mostly inside Earth's orbit+8
Near-Earth object+5
Catalogue designation only+0
Total score31
3 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
🌠Near-Earth object· +5
🔢Catalogue designation only
⚱️Aten: mostly inside Earth's orbit· +8
🪡Passes within two lunar distances of Earth's orbit· +18
✨ Trivia
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 0.48 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Venus.
🔁One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 246 days.
🥏How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 0.48 and 1.06 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
🧱Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is about 0.2 football pitches across.
Standing on it
🔥Sunlight there. At closest approach the Sun beats down about 4.3 times harder than it ever does on Earth.
🦘Don't jump. Escape velocity here is only around 0.01 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 20 metres across.
Properties
aphelion au
1.06
designation
2002 GQ
eccentricity
0.3751
full name
(2002 GQ)
h mag
26.3
inclination
10.62
mean motion deg day
1.463
moid au
0.0024
name
2002 GQ
number only
yes
orbit class
ATE
perihelion au
0.48
semi major au
0.7684
About 2002 GQ
2002 GQ is an uncommon neo. It swings within 0.48 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
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.
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, 2002 GQ 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 2002 GQ is an uncommon neo
2002 GQ scores 31 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 3 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 4 science badges — Near-Earth object, Catalogue designation only, Aten: mostly inside Earth's orbit and Passes within two lunar distances of 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.