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Rare asteroid 42 EP

Leopoldina

Position computed live · asteroid

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Live ephemeris

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Score breakdown

· 6 badges
42 pts · Rare
Rare 50 pts → Epic
  • Metal-rich asteroid +14
  • Darker than charcoal +10
  • Notably bright (low H) +8
  • Has a proper name +8
  • Asteroid +1
  • Main-belt asteroid +1
Total score 42

8 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
  • Metal-rich asteroid · +14

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 2.61 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Jupiter.
  • One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 5.3 years.
  • How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 2.61 and 3.5 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 15% as strong as Earth's.

By the numbers

  • Size. Roughly 86 km across.

Properties

albedo
0.039
aphelion au
3.5
designation
893
diameter km
85.992
eccentricity
0.1453
full name
893 Leopoldina (A918 KD)
h mag
9.62
inclination
17.03
mean motion deg day
0.1847
moid au
1.63
name
Leopoldina
named
yes
orbit class
MBA
perihelion au
2.61
rotation period h
12.597
semi major au
3.053
spec taxonomy
XF
spect
XF

About Leopoldina

Leopoldina is a rare asteroid. It has spectral type XF and swings within 2.61 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, Leopoldina 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 Leopoldina is a rare asteroid

Leopoldina scores 42 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 8 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 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.