Apollo asteroid

Common orbital subgroups of Near-Earth Objects (NEOs)

The Apollo asteroids are a group of near-Earth asteroids named after 1862 Apollo, discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth in the 1930s. They are Earth-crossing asteroids that have an orbital semi-major axis greater than that of the Earth (a > 1 AU) but perihelion distances less than the Earth's aphelion distance (q < 1.017 AU).[1][2]

As of October 2024, the number of known Apollo asteroids is 20,412, making the class the largest group of near-Earth objects (cf. the Aten, Amor and Atira asteroids),[3] of which 1,628 are numbered (asteroids are not numbered until they have been observed at two or more oppositions), 79 are named, and 2,104 are identified as potentially hazardous asteroids.[4][5]

The closer their semi-major axis is to Earth's, the less eccentricity is needed for the orbits to cross. The Chelyabinsk meteor, that exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk in the southern Urals region of Russia on February 15, 2013, injuring an estimated 1,500 people with flying glass from broken windows, was an Apollo-class asteroid.[6][7]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference NEO-groups was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Wolfram-Apollo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference neo-jpl-stats was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Small-Body Database Query". Solar System Dynamics – Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NASA – California Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2024-10-11.
  5. ^ "List of Apollo Minor Planets". IAU Minor Planet Center. Center for Astrophysics. Retrieved 2024-10-11.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference USA-Today-Chelyabinsk was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference NewScientist-Chelyabinsk was invoked but never defined (see the help page).