Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Apollo asteroid
The Apollo asteroids are a group of near-Earth asteroids named after 1862 Apollo, the first asteroid of this group to be discovered. They are Earth-crosser asteroids that have orbital semi-major axes greater than that of the Earth. 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:
Related topics
- Apollo asteroids (category)
- List of named Apollo asteroids
- Apollo asteroid records
External links
10-26-2009 08:16:03
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The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details