About Taowu
Taowu is a rare kbo. It swings within 23.772 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
A trans-Neptunian object from the Kuiper Belt, out where the Sun is little more than the brightest star in a very dark sky.
Rare kbo 41 EP
Taowu
Position computed live · sbdb
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Live ephemeris
This object moves — fetching its current position…
Score breakdown
· 5 badgesRare 50 pts → Epic
- Trans-Neptunian object +12
- Retrograde orbit +8
- Notably bright (low H) +8
- Has a proper name +8
- Kuiper-belt object +5
Total score 41
9 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
- Kuiper-belt object · +5
- Retrograde orbit · +8
- Notably bright (low H) · +8
- Has a proper name · +8
- Trans-Neptunian object · +12
Trivia
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. A trans-Neptunian object from the Kuiper Belt, out where the Sun is little more than the brightest star in a very dark sky.
- Closest approach. At its nearest it comes within 23.77 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Neptune.
- One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 213 years.
- How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 23.77 and 47.47 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
- Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is about 5.3× the length of Manhattan island.
- Walk around it. Walking its equator at a steady pace, eight hours a day, would take about 9.1 days.
By the numbers
- Estimated size. Nobody has measured its size directly. Assuming it reflects light like a typical asteroid, its brightness implies something roughly 115 km across.
Properties
- aphelion au
- 47.46
- designation
- 471325
- eccentricity
- 0.3326
- full name
- 471325 Taowu (2011 KT19)
- h mag
- 7.44
- inclination
- 110.28
- mean motion deg day
- 0.0046
- moid au
- 22.9
- name
- Taowu
- named
- yes
- orbit class
- TNO
- perihelion au
- 23.772
- semi major au
- 35.62
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, Taowu 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 Taowu is a rare kbo
Taowu scores 41 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 9 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Kuiper-belt object, Retrograde orbit, Notably bright (low H), Has a proper name and Trans-Neptunian object — 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.