About Itokawa
Itokawa is an epic neo. It has spectral type S(IV) and swings within 0.953 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
An Apollo-class object: its orbit is wider than Earth's but crosses it. Most known Earth-crossers belong to this family.
Epic neo 59 EP
Itokawa
Position computed live · sbdb
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Live ephemeris
This object moves — fetching its current position…
Score breakdown
· 7 badgesEpic 78 pts → Anomaly
- Itokawa, the first asteroid sampled +22
- Potentially hazardous +12
- Has a proper name +8
- Near-Earth object +5
- Tiny fragment (<1 km) +4
- Apollo: crosses Earth's orbit +4
- Stony asteroid +4
Total score 59
19 more points to reach Anomaly.
Badges
- Near-Earth object · +5
- Potentially hazardous · +12
- Tiny fragment (<1 km) · +4
- Has a proper name · +8
- Apollo: crosses Earth's orbit · +4
- Stony asteroid · +4
- Itokawa, the first asteroid sampled · +22
Trivia
Handle with care
- What 'hazardous' means. 'Potentially hazardous' is bookkeeping, not a prediction: it means the orbit passes within 0.05 AU of Earth's and the body is big enough to matter. Nothing on that list is known to be on a collision course.
- If it ever hit. A rock this size arriving at a typical 20 km/s would release around 2339 megatons — about 46.8 times the largest bomb ever detonated.
What it actually is
- Its orbit family. An Apollo-class object: its orbit is wider than Earth's but crosses it. Most known Earth-crossers belong to this family.
- Closest approach. At its nearest it comes within 0.95 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Earth.
- One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 1.5 years.
- How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 0.95 and 1.69 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
- Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is about 3.1 football pitches across.
Standing on it
- Don't jump. Escape velocity here is only around 0.2 m/s. A determined jump would launch you off it and into your own orbit around the Sun.
Properties
- aphelion au
- 1.7
- designation
- 25143
- diameter km
- 0.33
- eccentricity
- 0.2802
- full name
- 25143 Itokawa (1998 SF36)
- h mag
- 19.26
- inclination
- 1.62
- mean motion deg day
- 0.6469
- moid au
- 0.013
- name
- Itokawa
- named
- yes
- orbit class
- APO
- perihelion au
- 0.953
- pha
- yes
- rotation period h
- 12.132
- semi major au
- 1.324
- spec taxonomy
- S(IV)
- spect
- S(IV)
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, Itokawa 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 Itokawa is an epic neo
Itokawa scores 59 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 19 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 7 science badges — Near-Earth object, Potentially hazardous, Tiny fragment (<1 km), Has a proper name, Apollo: crosses Earth's orbit, Stony asteroid and Itokawa, the first asteroid sampled — 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.