This object moves — fetching its current position…
Score breakdown
· 5 badges
29 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon34 pts → Rare
Potentially hazardous+12
Barely turning (over 100 hours)+8
Near-Earth object+5
Amor: shadows Earth's orbit from outside+4
Catalogue designation only+0
Total score29
5 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
🌠Near-Earth object· +5
⚠️Potentially hazardous· +12
🔢Catalogue designation only
💘Amor: shadows Earth's orbit from outside· +4
🐌Barely turning (over 100 hours)· +8
✨ 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 5282 megatons — about 106 times the largest bomb ever detonated.
What it actually is
🛸Its orbit family. An Amor-class object. It approaches Earth's orbit from outside without ever crossing it — named for the asteroid Amor, which swept past at 16 million km in 1932.
🌞Closest approach. At its nearest it comes within 1.03 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Mars.
🔁One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 3 years.
🥏How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 1.03 and 3.15 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
🧱Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is about 4.1 football pitches across.
Standing on it
🦘Don't jump. Escape velocity here is only around 0.26 m/s. A determined jump would launch you off it and into your own orbit around the Sun.
Properties
aphelion au
3.15
designation
38071
eccentricity
0.5069
full name
38071 (1999 GU3)
h mag
19.57
inclination
12.73
mean motion deg day
0.3261
moid au
0.0333
name
(38071) 1999 GU3
number only
yes
orbit class
AMO
perihelion au
1.031
pha
yes
rotation period h
216
semi major au
2.09
About (38071) 1999 GU3
(38071) 1999 GU3 is an uncommon neo. It swings within 1.031 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
An Amor-class object. It approaches Earth's orbit from outside without ever crossing it — named for the asteroid Amor, which swept past at 16 million km in 1932.
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, (38071) 1999 GU3 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 (38071) 1999 GU3 is an uncommon neo
(38071) 1999 GU3 scores 29 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Near-Earth object, Potentially hazardous, Catalogue designation only, Amor: shadows Earth's orbit from outside and Barely turning (over 100 hours) — 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.