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 2.96 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Jupiter.
🔁One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 5.5 years.
🥏How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 2.96 and 3.24 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
🧱Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is about 3.2× the length of Manhattan island.
🚶Walk around it. Walking its equator at a steady pace, eight hours a day, would take about 5.5 days.
Standing on it
🥶Sunlight there. Even at its closest the sunlight is only about 11% as strong as Earth's.
By the numbers
📐Size. Roughly 69.9 km across.
Properties
albedo
0.04
aphelion au
3.24
designation
1243
diameter km
69.883
eccentricity
0.0453
full name
1243 Pamela (1932 JE)
h mag
9.66
inclination
13.26
mean motion deg day
0.1807
moid au
1.96
name
Pamela
named
yes
orbit class
MBA
perihelion au
2.958
rotation period h
25.96
semi major au
3.098
About Pamela
Pamela is an uncommon asteroid. It swings within 2.958 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, Pamela 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 Pamela is an uncommon asteroid
Pamela 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.