← Back to dex - Centaur: adrift between the giants +20
- 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
- 💡 Notably bright (low H) · +8
- 🏷️ Has a proper name · +8
- 🦌 Centaur: adrift between the giants · +20
✨ Trivia
What it actually is
- 🛸 Its orbit family. A centaur, wandering between the orbits of Jupiter and Neptune on a path nothing can stabilise. Half asteroid and half comet, and gone from this orbit within a few million years.
- 🌞 Closest approach. At its nearest it comes within 11.8 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Uranus.
- 🔁 One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 121 years.
- 🥏 How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 11.8 and 37.22 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
- 🧱 Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is roughly 4.9× the height of Mount Everest.
- 🚶 Walk around it. Walking its equator at a steady pace, eight hours a day, would take about 3.4 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 43.3 km across.
What's in a name
- 🏷️ Named. Notable enough to have earned a proper name, not just a catalogue number.
Properties
- aphelion au
- 37.21
- designation
- 7066
- eccentricity
- 0.5184
- full name
- 7066 Nessus (1993 HA2)
- h mag
- 9.57
- inclination
- 15.65
- mean motion deg day
- 0.0081
- moid au
- 10.8
- name
- Nessus
- named
- yes
- orbit class
- CEN
- perihelion au
- 11.802
- semi major au
- 24.51
About Nessus
Nessus is a rare kbo. It swings within 11.802 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
A centaur, wandering between the orbits of Jupiter and Neptune on a path nothing can stabilise. Half asteroid and half comet, and gone from this orbit within a few million years.
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, Nessus 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 Nessus is a rare kbo
Nessus 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 4 science badges — Kuiper-belt object, Notably bright (low H), Has a proper name and Centaur: adrift between the giants — 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.