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Rare asteroid 34 EP

Isabella

Position computed live · asteroid

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Live ephemeris

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
34 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Darker than charcoal +10
  • 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 score 34

16 more points to reach Epic.

Badges

  • Asteroid · +1
  • Notably bright (low H) · +8
  • Has a proper name · +8
  • Main-belt asteroid · +1
  • Darker than charcoal · +10
  • 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 2.39 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Jupiter.
  • One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 4.5 years.
  • How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 2.39 and 3.06 AU from the Sun.

Sense of scale

  • Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is about 4× the length of Manhattan island.
  • Walk around it. Walking its equator at a steady pace, eight hours a day, would take about 6.8 days.

Standing on it

  • Sunlight there. Even at its closest the sunlight is only about 18% as strong as Earth's.

By the numbers

  • Size. Roughly 86.7 km across.

Properties

albedo
0.0436
aphelion au
3.06
designation
210
diameter km
86.65
eccentricity
0.1231
full name
210 Isabella (A879 VA)
h mag
9.4
inclination
5.26
mean motion deg day
0.2194
moid au
1.4
name
Isabella
named
yes
orbit class
MBA
perihelion au
2.387
rotation period h
6.672
semi major au
2.722
spec taxonomy
Cb
spect
Cb

About Isabella

Isabella is a rare asteroid. It has spectral type Cb and swings within 2.387 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, Isabella 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 Isabella is a rare asteroid

Isabella scores 34 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 16 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 6 science badges — Asteroid, Notably bright (low H), Has a proper name, Main-belt asteroid, Darker than charcoal 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.