This object moves — fetching its current position…
Score breakdown
· 5 badges
43 pts · Rare
Rare50 pts → Epic
Passes within two lunar distances of Earth's orbit+18
Basaltic — a chip off a molten world+16
Near-Earth object+5
Apollo: crosses Earth's orbit+4
Catalogue designation only+0
Total score43
7 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
🌠Near-Earth object· +5
🔢Catalogue designation only
🏛️Apollo: crosses Earth's orbit· +4
🪡Passes within two lunar distances of Earth's orbit· +18
⛰️Basaltic — a chip off a molten world· +16
✨ 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 9567 megatons — about 191 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 0.49 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Venus.
🔁One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 3.4 years.
🥏How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 0.49 and 4.05 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
🧱Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is about 5 football pitches across.
Standing on it
🔥Sunlight there. At closest approach the Sun beats down about 4.2 times harder than it ever does on Earth.
Properties
aphelion au
4.05
designation
612050
eccentricity
0.7843
full name
612050 (1997 GL3)
h mag
19.14
inclination
6.68
mean motion deg day
0.288
moid au
0.0038
name
(612050) 1997 GL3
number only
yes
orbit class
APO
perihelion au
0.49
pha
yes
rotation period h
7.572
semi major au
2.271
spec taxonomy
V
spect
V
About (612050) 1997 GL3
(612050) 1997 GL3 is a rare neo. It has spectral type V and swings within 0.49 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.
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, (612050) 1997 GL3 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 (612050) 1997 GL3 is a rare neo
(612050) 1997 GL3 scores 43 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Near-Earth object, Catalogue designation only, Apollo: crosses Earth's orbit, Passes within two lunar distances of Earth's orbit and Basaltic — a chip off a molten world — 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.