Online 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 have orbital semi-major axes greater than that of the Earth. Note, however, that some Apollos have eccentric orbits that cross the Earth's, 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:
| The Minor Planets |
| Vulcanoids | Main belt | Groups and Families | Near-Earth objects | Jupiter Trojans |
| Centaurs | Trans-Neptunians | Damocloids | Comets | Kuiper Belt | Oort Cloud |
| (For other objects and regions, see: Binary asteroids, Asteroid moons and the Solar system) |
| (For a complete listing, see: List of asteroids) |
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Last updated: 10-24-2004 05:10:45