About A/2024 U2
A/2024 U2 is an epic asteroid. It swings within 8.179 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
At its nearest it comes within 8.18 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Saturn.
Epic asteroid 71 EP
A/2024 U2
Position computed live · sbdb
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Live ephemeris
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Score breakdown
· 8 badgesEpic 78 pts → Anomaly
- Hyperbolic comet (one pass, then gone) +18
- Unbound (hyperbolic) orbit +16
- Wildly elliptical orbit +10
- Never comes near the Sun +10
- Retrograde orbit +8
- Notably bright (low H) +8
- Asteroid +1
- Catalogue designation only +0
Total score 71
7 more points to reach Anomaly.
Badges
- Asteroid · +1
- Retrograde orbit · +8
- Wildly elliptical orbit · +10
- Unbound (hyperbolic) orbit · +16
- Notably bright (low H) · +8
- Catalogue designation only
- Hyperbolic comet (one pass, then gone) · +18
- Never comes near the Sun · +10
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
- Closest approach. At its nearest it comes within 8.18 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Saturn.
- One-way trip. On a hyperbolic path — it will leave the Solar System and never return.
- Ancient. A leftover from the Solar System's birth, older than every continent on Earth.
Sense of scale
- Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is roughly 2× the height of Mount Everest.
- Walk around it. Walking its equator at a steady pace, eight hours a day, would take about 1.4 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 17.3 km across.
What's in a name
- Designation. Known only by its catalogue designation — no name yet.
Properties
- designation
- 2024 U2
- eccentricity
- 1.0026
- full name
- (A/2024 U2)
- h mag
- 11.56
- inclination
- 120.66
- mean motion deg day
- 0
- moid au
- 7.28
- name
- A/2024 U2
- number only
- yes
- orbit class
- HYA
- perihelion au
- 8.179
- semi major au
- -3185
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, A/2024 U2 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 A/2024 U2 is an epic asteroid
A/2024 U2 scores 71 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 8 science badges — Asteroid, Retrograde orbit, Wildly elliptical orbit, Unbound (hyperbolic) orbit, Notably bright (low H), Catalogue designation only, Hyperbolic comet (one pass, then gone) and Never comes near the Sun — 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.