About 99942 Apophis (2004 MN4)
99942 Apophis (2004 MN4) is a rare neo. It swings within 0.746 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
Its orbit passes close enough to Earth's to be officially monitored.
Rare neo 45 EP
99942 Apophis (2004 MN4)
Position computed live · sbdb
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Live ephemeris
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Score breakdown
· 5 badgesRare 46 pts → Epic
- Potentially hazardous +16
- Crosses Earth's orbit +12
- Has a proper name +8
- Near-Earth object +5
- Tiny fragment (<1 km) +4
Total score 45
1 more point to reach Epic.
Badges
- Near-Earth object · +5
- Potentially hazardous · +16
- Tiny fragment (<1 km) · +4
- Crosses Earth's orbit · +12
- Has a proper name · +8
Trivia
What makes it special
- Potentially hazardous. Its orbit passes close enough to Earth's to be officially monitored.
How we found it
- Named. Notable enough to have earned a proper name, not just a catalogue number.
Cosmic context
- Size. Roughly 0.3 km across.
- Ancient. A leftover from the Solar System's birth, older than every continent on Earth.
Properties
- diameter km
- 0.34
- eccentricity
- 0.1911
- h mag
- 19.09
- inclination
- 3.34
- name
- 99942 Apophis (2004 MN4)
- named
- yes
- orbit class
- ATE
- perihelion au
- 0.7461
- pha
- yes
- semi major au
- 0.9224
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, 99942 Apophis (2004 MN4) 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 99942 Apophis (2004 MN4) is a rare neo
99942 Apophis (2004 MN4) scores 45 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 1 point would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Near-Earth object, Potentially hazardous, Tiny fragment (<1 km), Crosses Earth's orbit and Has a proper name — 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.