The Apollo asteroids are a group of near-Earth asteroids named after 1862 Apollo, the first asteroid of this group to be discovered by Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth. They are Earth-crosser asteroids that have orbital semi-major axes greater than that of the Earth (> 1 AU) and a perihelion distance (q) < 1.017 AU. Some can get very close to the Earth, making them a potential threat to our planet (the closer their semi-major axis is to Earth's, the less eccentricity is needed for the orbits to cross).

The largest known Apollo asteroid is 1866 Sisyphus, with a diameter of about 10 km.

Well-known Apollo asteroids include:

Name	Year	Discoverer
2007TU24	2007	Catalina Sky Survey
2007WD5	2007	Andrea Boattini
2006 SU49	2006	Spacewatch
2004 XP14	2004	LINEAR
2004 AS1	2004	LINEAR
2002 TD66	2002	LINEAR
(137108) 1999 AN10	1999	LINEAR
1998 KY26	1998	Spacewatch
1997 XR2	1997	LINEAR
69230 Hermes	1937	Karl Reinmuth
(53319) 1999 JM8	1999	LINEAR
(52760) 1998 ML14	1998	LINEAR
(35396) 1997 XF11	1997	Spacewatch
(29075) 1950 DA	1950	Carl A. Wirtanen
25143 Itokawa	1998	LINEAR
6489 Golevka	1991	Eleanor F. Helin
4769 Castalia	1989	Eleanor F. Helin
4660 Nereus	1982	Eleanor F. Helin
4581 Asclepius	1989	Henry E. Holt, Norman G. Thomas
4486 Mithra	1987	Eric Elst, Vladimir Shkodrov
(4197) 1982 TA	1982	Eleanor F. Helin, Eugene Shoemaker
4183 Cuno	1959	Cuno Hoffmeister
4179 Toutatis	1989	Christian Pollas
4015 Wilson-Harrington	1979	Eleanor F. Helin
3200 Phaethon	1983	Simon F. Green, John K. Davies / IRAS
2101 Adonis	1936	Eugène Joseph Delporte
2063 Bacchus	1977	Charles T. Kowal
1866 Sisyphus	1972	Paul Wild
1862 Apollo	1932	Karl Reinmuth
1685 Toro	1948	Carl A. Wirtanen
1620 Geographos	1951	Albert George Wilson, Rudolph Minkowski
1566 Icarus	1949	Walter Baade

See also

• Apollo asteroids (category)
• Apollo asteroid records

External links

• List of Apollo minor planets

Small Solar System bodies Asteroids (Vulcanoids · Near-Earth · Main belt · Jupiter Trojans · Centaurs · Damocloids · Neptune Trojans · Groups · Families · Moons) Comets · Trans-Neptunians (Kuiper belt · Scattered disc objects · Oort cloud) · Minor planets · Meteoroids Lists: Minor planets · Asteroid groups and families · Binary asteroids · Asteroid moons See also: Near-Earth object · Dwarf planet · Planet · Solar System · Pronunciation of asteroid names · Meanings of asteroid names.

---

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; from the article "Apollo asteroid". Image Credit.

bookmark   email   print   tweet   facebook