This object moves — fetching its current position…
Score breakdown
· 5 badges
30 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon34 pts → Rare
Primitive outer-belt type+12
Notably bright (low H)+8
Has a proper name+8
Asteroid+1
Main-belt asteroid+1
Total score30
4 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
🪨Asteroid· +1
💡Notably bright (low H)· +8
🏷️Has a proper name· +8
🥌Main-belt asteroid· +1
🦖Primitive outer-belt type· +12
✨ 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 2.85 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Jupiter.
🔁One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 5.2 years.
🥏How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 2.85 and 3.12 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
🧱Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is about 3.9× the length of Manhattan island.
🚶Walk around it. Walking its equator at a steady pace, eight hours a day, would take about 6.7 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 85.2 km across.
Properties
albedo
0.061
aphelion au
3.12
designation
447
diameter km
85.224
eccentricity
0.0456
full name
447 Valentine (A899 UD)
h mag
9.05
inclination
4.8
mean motion deg day
0.1911
moid au
1.85
name
Valentine
named
yes
orbit class
MBA
perihelion au
2.848
rotation period h
9.651
semi major au
2.985
spec taxonomy
TD
spect
TD
About Valentine
Valentine is an uncommon asteroid. It has spectral type TD and swings within 2.848 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, Valentine 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 Valentine is an uncommon asteroid
Valentine scores 30 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Asteroid, Notably bright (low H), Has a proper name, Main-belt asteroid and Primitive outer-belt type — 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.