This object moves — fetching its current position…
Score breakdown
· 5 badges
30 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon34 pts → Rare
Large body (100-500 km)+12
Notably bright (low H)+8
Has a proper name+8
Asteroid+1
Main-belt asteroid+1
Total score30
4 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
🪨Asteroid· +1
🗿Large body (100-500 km)· +12
💡Notably bright (low H)· +8
🏷️Has a proper name· +8
🥌Main-belt asteroid· +1
✨ 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 2.08 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Jupiter.
🔁One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 4.1 years.
🥏How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 2.08 and 3.02 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
🧱Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is about 6.7× the length of Manhattan island.
🚶Walk around it. Walking its equator at a steady pace, eight hours a day, would take about 11.4 days.
Standing on it
🥶Sunlight there. Even at its closest the sunlight is only about 23% as strong as Earth's.
By the numbers
📐Size. Roughly 145 km across.
Properties
albedo
0.189
aphelion au
3.02
designation
89
diameter km
145.483
eccentricity
0.1837
full name
89 Julia (A866 PA)
h mag
6.39
inclination
16.12
mean motion deg day
0.242
moid au
1.1
name
Julia
named
yes
orbit class
MBA
perihelion au
2.082
rotation period h
11.387
semi major au
2.551
spec taxonomy
K
spect
K
About Julia
Julia is an uncommon asteroid. It has spectral type K and swings within 2.082 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, Julia 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 Julia is an uncommon asteroid
Julia scores 30 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Asteroid, Large body (100-500 km), Notably bright (low H), Has a proper name and Main-belt 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.