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Score breakdown
· 6 badges
44 pts · Rare
Rare50 pts → Epic
Metal-rich asteroid+14
Large body (100-500 km)+12
Notably bright (low H)+8
Has a proper name+8
Asteroid+1
Main-belt asteroid+1
Total score44
6 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
🪨Asteroid· +1
🗿Large body (100-500 km)· +12
💡Notably bright (low H)· +8
🏷️Has a proper name· +8
🥌Main-belt asteroid· +1
⚙️Metal-rich asteroid· +14
✨ Trivia
What it actually is
🛸Its orbit family. A main-belt asteroid, one of millions circling between Mars and Jupiter. Despite the films, the belt is so empty that every spacecraft sent through it has crossed without aiming for anything.
🌞Closest approach. At its nearest it comes within 1.98 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Jupiter.
🔁One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 4.2 years.
🥏How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 1.98 and 3.21 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
🧱Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is about 5.6× the length of Manhattan island.
🚶Walk around it. Walking its equator at a steady pace, eight hours a day, would take about 9.5 days.
Standing on it
🥶Sunlight there. Even at its closest the sunlight is only about 25% as strong as Earth's.
By the numbers
📐Size. Roughly 121 km across.
Properties
albedo
0.057
aphelion au
3.21
designation
56
diameter km
121.333
eccentricity
0.2365
full name
56 Melete (A857 RB)
h mag
8.51
inclination
8.08
mean motion deg day
0.2354
moid au
0.986
name
Melete
named
yes
orbit class
MBA
perihelion au
1.984
rotation period h
18.147
semi major au
2.598
spec taxonomy
Xk
spect
Xk
About Melete
Melete is a rare asteroid. It has spectral type Xk and swings within 1.984 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
A main-belt asteroid, one of millions circling between Mars and Jupiter. Despite the films, the belt is so empty that every spacecraft sent through it has crossed without aiming for anything.
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, Melete 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 Melete is a rare asteroid
Melete scores 44 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 6 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 6 science badges — Asteroid, Large body (100-500 km), Notably bright (low H), Has a proper name, Main-belt asteroid and Metal-rich asteroid — 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.