This object moves — fetching its current position…
Score breakdown
· 5 badges
28 pts · Uncommon
Uncommon34 pts → Rare
Darker than charcoal+10
Notably bright (low H)+8
Has a proper name+8
Asteroid+1
Main-belt asteroid+1
Total score28
6 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
🪨Asteroid· +1
💡Notably bright (low H)· +8
🏷️Has a proper name· +8
🥌Main-belt asteroid· +1
🕶️Darker than charcoal· +10
✨ 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 2.41 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Jupiter.
🔁One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 5 years.
🥏How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 2.41 and 3.41 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
🧱Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is about 3.4× the length of Manhattan island.
🚶Walk around it. Walking its equator at a steady pace, eight hours a day, would take about 5.7 days.
Standing on it
🥶Sunlight there. Even at its closest the sunlight is only about 17% as strong as Earth's.
By the numbers
📐Size. Roughly 73.1 km across.
Properties
albedo
0.048
aphelion au
3.41
designation
636
diameter km
73.147
eccentricity
0.1727
full name
636 Erika (A907 CE)
h mag
9.7
inclination
7.91
mean motion deg day
0.1984
moid au
1.41
name
Erika
named
yes
orbit class
MBA
perihelion au
2.409
rotation period h
14.603
semi major au
2.912
About Erika
Erika is an uncommon asteroid. It swings within 2.409 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, Erika 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 Erika is an uncommon asteroid
Erika scores 28 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 6 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 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.