About Aethra
Aethra is a rare asteroid. It has spectral type Xe and swings within 1.601 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
A Mars-crosser: its orbit reaches in far enough to cut clean across the path of Mars.
Rare asteroid 36 EP
Aethra
Position computed live · sbdb
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Live ephemeris
This object moves — fetching its current position…
Score breakdown
· 5 badgesRare 50 pts → Epic
- Metal-rich asteroid +14
- Notably bright (low H) +8
- Has a proper name +8
- Mars-crosser +5
- Asteroid +1
Total score 36
14 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
- Asteroid · +1
- Notably bright (low H) · +8
- Has a proper name · +8
- Mars-crosser · +5
- Metal-rich asteroid · +14
Trivia
What it actually is
- Its orbit family. A Mars-crosser: its orbit reaches in far enough to cut clean across the path of Mars.
- Closest approach. At its nearest it comes within 1.6 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 1.6 and 3.62 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
- Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is roughly 4.8× the height of Mount Everest.
- Walk around it. Walking its equator at a steady pace, eight hours a day, would take about 3.4 days.
By the numbers
- Size. Roughly 42.9 km across.
What's in a name
- Named. Notable enough to have earned a proper name, not just a catalogue number.
Properties
- albedo
- 0.199
- aphelion au
- 3.62
- designation
- 132
- diameter km
- 42.87
- eccentricity
- 0.3871
- full name
- 132 Aethra (A873 LA)
- h mag
- 8.96
- inclination
- 24.98
- mean motion deg day
- 0.2335
- moid au
- 0.782
- name
- Aethra
- named
- yes
- orbit class
- MCA
- perihelion au
- 1.601
- rotation period h
- 5.1684
- semi major au
- 2.612
- spec taxonomy
- Xe
- spect
- Xe
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, Aethra 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 Aethra is a rare asteroid
Aethra 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 5 science badges — Asteroid, Notably bright (low H), Has a proper name, Mars-crosser 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.