2062 Aten is an asteroid that was discovered at the Palomar Mountain Observatory by Eleanor F. Helin, who is now the principal scientist for the NEAT (Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking) project. Aten was the first asteroid found to have a semi-major orbital axis of less than one astronomical unit. A new category of asteroids was thus created, the Atens, of which 16 are known and numbered, and some 212 awaiting numbering as of July 2004, ranging from 1989 VA to 2004 MD₆ .