About Stearns
Stearns is a rare asteroid. It has spectral type Xe and swings within 1.637 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 38 EP
Stearns
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
- Brilliantly reflective surface +10
- Has a proper name +8
- Mars-crosser +5
- Asteroid +1
Total score 38
12 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
- Asteroid · +1
- Has a proper name · +8
- Mars-crosser · +5
- Brilliantly reflective surface · +10
- 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 1.64 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Jupiter.
- One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 2.6 years.
- How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 1.64 and 2.13 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
- Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is roughly 0.5× the height of Mount Everest.
By the numbers
- Size. Roughly 4.8 km across.
What's in a name
- Named. Notable enough to have earned a proper name, not just a catalogue number.
Properties
- albedo
- 0.649
- aphelion au
- 2.13
- designation
- 2035
- diameter km
- 4.824
- eccentricity
- 0.1313
- full name
- 2035 Stearns (1973 SC)
- h mag
- 12.45
- inclination
- 27.75
- mean motion deg day
- 0.3811
- moid au
- 0.631
- name
- Stearns
- named
- yes
- orbit class
- MCA
- perihelion au
- 1.637
- rotation period h
- 93
- semi major au
- 1.884
- spec taxonomy
- Xe
- spect
- Xe
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, Stearns 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 Stearns is a rare asteroid
Stearns scores 38 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 12 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Asteroid, Has a proper name, Mars-crosser, Brilliantly reflective surface 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.