About (102528) 1999 US3
(102528) 1999 US3 is a common asteroid. It swings within 1.334 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
A Mars-crosser: its orbit reaches in far enough to cut clean across the path of Mars.
Common asteroid 16 EP
(102528) 1999 US3
Position computed live · sbdb
Loading sky survey…
Live ephemeris
This object moves — fetching its current position…
Score breakdown
· 4 badgesCommon 22 pts → Uncommon
- Darker than charcoal +10
- Mars-crosser +5
- Asteroid +1
- Catalogue designation only +0
Total score 16
6 more points to reach Uncommon.
Badges
- Asteroid · +1
- Catalogue designation only
- Mars-crosser · +5
- Darker than charcoal · +10
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 1.33 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Mars.
- One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 4.6 years.
- How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 1.33 and 4.2 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
- Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is roughly 1.5× the height of Mount Everest.
- Walk around it. Walking its equator at a steady pace, eight hours a day, would take about 1 days.
By the numbers
- Size. Roughly 12.8 km across.
What's in a name
- Designation. Known only by its catalogue designation — no name yet.
Properties
- albedo
- 0.041
- aphelion au
- 4.2
- designation
- 102528
- diameter km
- 12.85
- eccentricity
- 0.5175
- full name
- 102528 (1999 US3)
- h mag
- 13.64
- inclination
- 28.92
- mean motion deg day
- 0.2143
- moid au
- 0.35
- name
- (102528) 1999 US3
- number only
- yes
- orbit class
- MCA
- perihelion au
- 1.334
- rotation period h
- 4.682
- semi major au
- 2.765
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, (102528) 1999 US3 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 (102528) 1999 US3 is a common asteroid
(102528) 1999 US3 scores 16 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 6 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 4 science badges — Asteroid, Catalogue designation only, Mars-crosser and Darker than charcoal — 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.