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Score breakdown
· 6 badges
36 pts · Rare
Rare50 pts → Epic
Large body (100-500 km)+12
Notably bright (low H)+8
Has a proper name+8
Carbonaceous — as old as the solar system+6
Asteroid+1
Main-belt asteroid+1
Total score36
14 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
🖤Carbonaceous — as old as the solar system· +6
✨ 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 2.9 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Jupiter.
🔁One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 5.7 years.
🥏How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 2.89 and 3.46 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
🧱Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is about 5.5× the length of Manhattan island.
🚶Walk around it. Walking its equator at a steady pace, eight hours a day, would take about 9.3 days.
Standing on it
🥶Sunlight there. Even at its closest the sunlight is only about 12% as strong as Earth's.
By the numbers
📐Size. Roughly 119 km across.
Properties
albedo
0.059
aphelion au
3.46
designation
490
diameter km
118.803
eccentricity
0.0884
full name
490 Veritas (A902 RE)
h mag
8.66
inclination
9.29
mean motion deg day
0.1742
moid au
1.89
name
Veritas
named
yes
orbit class
MBA
perihelion au
2.895
rotation period h
7.93
semi major au
3.175
spec taxonomy
Ch
spect
Ch
About Veritas
Veritas is a rare asteroid. It has spectral type Ch and swings within 2.895 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, Veritas 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 Veritas is a rare asteroid
Veritas scores 36 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 14 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 Carbonaceous — as old as the solar system — 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.