← Back to dex - Centaur: adrift between the giants +20
- Notably bright (low H) +8
- Kuiper-belt object +5
- Steeply tilted orbit (i > 40°) +4
- Catalogue designation only +0
Total score 37
13 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
- ❄️ Kuiper-belt object · +5
- 💡 Notably bright (low H) · +8
- 🔢 Catalogue designation only
- 🦌 Centaur: adrift between the giants · +20
- 📏 Steeply tilted orbit (i > 40°) · +4
✨ 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 18.23 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Uranus.
- 🔁 One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 125 years.
- 🥏 How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 18.23 and 31.85 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
- 🧱 Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is roughly 2.4× the height of Mount Everest.
- 🚶 Walk around it. Walking its equator at a steady pace, eight hours a day, would take about 1.7 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 21.4 km across.
What's in a name
- 🔢 Designation. Known only by its catalogue designation — no name yet.
Properties
- aphelion au
- 31.85
- designation
- 2015 DQ249
- eccentricity
- 0.272
- full name
- (2015 DQ249)
- h mag
- 11.1
- inclination
- 41.91
- mean motion deg day
- 0.0079
- moid au
- 17.3
- name
- 2015 DQ249
- number only
- yes
- orbit class
- CEN
- perihelion au
- 18.229
- semi major au
- 25.04
About 2015 DQ249
2015 DQ249 is a rare kbo. It swings within 18.229 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, 2015 DQ249 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 2015 DQ249 is a rare kbo
2015 DQ249 scores 37 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 13 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Kuiper-belt object, Notably bright (low H), Catalogue designation only, Centaur: adrift between the giants and Steeply tilted orbit (i > 40°) — 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.