Sunshine is asteroid #3742 and also known as 1981 EQ₂₇. Sunshine was discovered by the American astronomer Schelte John “Bobby” Bus at the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. Sunshine’s orbit is characterized by a semi-major axis of 2.56 Astronomical Units, an eccentricity of 0.13, a period of revolution of 1 494 days, and an inclination of 2.7 degrees.

Named in honor of Jessica M. Sunshine, visiting scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is best known for developing a technique called the “Modified Gaussian Model” that allows reflectance spectroscopy measurements to be deconvolved and interpreted in terms of constituent absorptions from a suite of mineral species. Sunshine has applied this technique to the study of minor planets, satellites, meteorites and the surfaces of Mars and the earth. Citation prepared by R. P. Binzel.

Ref: Minor Planet Circ. 27126

At least the official naming citation, which I quote above, knows the person, who lends her family-name to the asteroid Sunshine. The only peculiarity seems to be the family-name itself. Sunshine belongs like Souten or Lumen to the theme of light. While Lumen represents artificial light, Sunshine represents natural light. Sunshine reveals what was hidden. Sunshine could in some cases also hint to the dangers of being exposed to too much radiation.