List of noteworthy asteroids

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The following is a list of noteworthy asteroids in our Solar system. For a more complete list of asteroids in sequential numerical order, see List of asteroids.

Note: each asteroid is given a unique sequential identifying number after its orbit is precisely determined. Prior to this, asteroids are known only by their systematic name or provisional designation, such as "1950 DA".

Contents 1 Largest known asteroids 2 Retrograde and high-inclination asteroids 3 Other noteworthy minor planets 4 Spacecraft targets 5 Asteroids with the same or similar names as moons 6 Numbered asteroids that are also comets 7 Asteroids that were misnamed and renamed 8 Record-setting close approaches by asteroids to Earth 9 Exceptionally slow-rotating objects 10 See also 11 External links 12 Books

Largest known asteroids

Name	Diameter (km)	Mean Distance from Sun (in AU)	Date Discovered	Discoverer	Class
1 Ceres	975×909	2.766	January 1 1801	Piazzi, G.	G
4 Vesta	578×560×458	2.361	March 29 1807	Olbers, H. W.	V
2 Pallas	570×525×500	2.773	March 28 1802	Olbers, H. W.	B
10 Hygiea	407	3.136	April 12 1849	de Gasparis, A.	C
511 Davida	326	3.170	May 30 1903	Dugan, R. S.	C
704 Interamnia	317	3.067	October 2 1910	Cerulli, V.	F
52 Europa	300	3.099	February 4 1858	Goldschmidt, H.	C
624 Hektor	370×195	5.203	February 10 1907	Kopff, A.	D
3 Juno	290×240×190	2.668	September 1 1804	Harding, K. L.	S
87 Sylvia	261	3.490	May 16 1866	Norman Robert Pogson	X
31 Euphrosyne	256	3.148	September 1 1854	Ferguson, J.	C
15 Eunomia	255	2.644	July 29 1851	de Gasparis, A.	S
16 Psyche	253	2.919	March 17 1852	de Gasparis, A.	M
65 Cybele	237	3.437	March 8 1861	Tempel, E. W.	C
9 Metis	235×195×140	2.387	April 25 1848	Graham, A.	S
324 Bamberga	229	2.682	February 25 1892	Palisa, J.	C
24 Themis	228	3.129	April 5 1853	de Gasparis, A.	C

The number of bodies grows rapidly as the size decreases. For example, there are estimated to be another twelve asteroids with diameters between 200 and 224 km.

The inner main belt (defined as the region interior to the 3:1 Kirkwood gap at 2.50 AU) has few large asteroids. Only 4 Vesta and 9 Metis qualify for the above list.

For a listing by mass see here.

Retrograde and high-inclination asteroids

Asteroids with orbital inclinations greater than 90° orbit in a retrograde direction. There are only eight (as of August 2004) retrograde asteroids known, only two of which are numbered. This makes them the rarest group of all. High-inclination asteroids are either Mars-crossers (probably in the process of being ejected from the solar system) or damocloids.

Name	Inclination	Discovery date	Comment
(5496) 1973 NA	67.999°	July 4, 1973	A Mars-crosser and Near-Earth object.
20461 Dioretsa	160.400°	June 8, 1999	This outer-planet crosser is a damocloid and scattered disk object (SDO); Template:Mpl may have split off from Dioretsa.
Template:Mpl	119.112°	September 4, 2002	This outer-planet crosser is a damocloid and SDO.
Template:Mpl	151.867°	June 12, 1999	A damocloid, SDO, Jupiter- and Saturn-crosser asteroid.
Template:Mpl	129.381°	February 25, 2000	A damocloid and SDO. Crosses all the outer planets except Neptune.
Template:Mpl	158.459°	April 29, 2000	This outer-planet crosser is a damocloid and SDO. May be a fragment of 20461 Dioretsa.
Template:Mpl	72.132°	January 4, 2001	A Mars-crosser and Near-Earth object.
Template:Mpl	77.904°	December 4, 2002	A damocloid and SDO. It is almost an Uranus outer-grazer.
Template:Mpl	70.790°	March 6, 2003	A Mars-crosser, Near-Earth object and Jupiter inner-grazer.
2004 LG	70.725°	June 9, 2004	A Mercury- through Mars-crosser and Near-Earth object.
Template:Mpl	165.377°	July 13, 2004	This outer-planet crosser could even be on a path headed out of the Solar System (eccentricity ~0.9875).

Other noteworthy minor planets

Name	Diameter (km)	Discovered	Comment
5 Astraea	117	December 8, 1845	First asteroid discovered in 38 years after original four
61 Danaë	82	September 9, 1860	First asteroid to have a non-ASCII name
62 Erato	95	September 14, 1860	First asteroid to be co-discovered by two people
85 Io	155	September 19, 1865	Asteroid with the shortest name (two characters, plus a two-digit number) (runners up: 954 Li, 1714 Sy, 2705 Wu, 3271 Ul, 6498 Ko, and 22260 Ur)
87 Sylvia	261	May 16, 1866	First asteroid known to have more than one moon
90 Antiope	80×80	October 1, 1866	Double asteroid with two nearly equal components; its double nature was discovered using adaptive optics
92 Undina	126	1867 July 7	Created in one of the largest asteroid-on-asteroid collisions of the past 100 million years
139 Juewa	162	October 10, 1874	First asteroid discovered in China, by James Craig Watson. The name was chosen by Chinese officials: 瑞華, or in modern pinyin, ruìhuá
216 Kleopatra	217×94	April 10, 1880	Metallic asteroid with "dog-bone" shape
243 Ida	56×24×21	September 29, 1884	First confirmed binary asteroid
(243) Ida I Dactyl	1.4	February 17, 1994	Moon of 243 Ida, first confirmed satellite of an asteroid
288 Glauke	32	February 20, 1890	Exceptionally slow rotation period of about 1200 hours (2 months)
323 Brucia	36	December 22, 1891	First asteroid discovered by means of astrophotography rather than visual observation
333 Badenia	78	August 22, 1892	First asteroid to first receive a provisional designation (1892A)
433 Eros	13×13×33	August 13, 1898	First near-Earth asteroid discovered and the second largest
490 Veritas	115	1902 September 3	Created in one of the largest asteroid-on-asteroid collisions of the past 100 million years
624 Hektor	370×195	February 10, 1907	Largest Jovian Trojan asteroid discovered
719 Albert	2.4	October 3, 1911	Last numbered asteroid to be lost then recovered
944 Hidalgo	20	October 31, 1920	Longest orbital period of any asteroid in the main asteroid belt
1125 China		October 30, 1957	First asteroid discovery to be credited to an institution rather than a person
1566 Icarus	1.4	June 27, 1949	Apollo class asteroid; perihelion is closer to the Sun than Mercury
1743 Schmidt	17	September 24, 1960	First asteroid to be co-discovered by three people
2060 Chiron	170	October 18, 1977	First Centaur to be discovered and first asteroid to receive comet designation
2063 Bacchus	1.1×1.1×2.6	April 24, 1977
3200 Phaethon	5	October 11, 1983	First asteroid discovered from space; source of Geminids meteor shower.
3753 Cruithne	5	October 10, 1986	Unusual Earth-associated orbit
4015 Wilson-Harrington		November 19, 1949	Longest-named asteroid (17 characters)
4090 Říšehvězd		September 2, 1986	Name with the most diacritics (four)
4179 Toutatis	4.5×2.4×1.9	January 4, 1989	Closely approached Earth on September 29th, 2004
4769 Castalia	1.8×0.8	August 9, 1989	First asteroid to be imaged
5261 Eureka	~2–4	June 20, 1990	First Martian Trojan asteroid (L5 point) discovered (not yet officially recognized as such)
(11885) 1990 SS		September 25, 1990	First automated discovery of a Near-Earth Object (NEO)
Template:Mpl		August 30, 1992	First trans-Neptunian object
Template:Mpl		October 9, 1996	First recognised scattered disk object and first asteroid to be co-discovered by four people
(29075) 1950 DA	1.1	February 23, 1950	Will approach Earth very closely in 2880
Template:Mpl		October 15, 1995	Earliest discovered scattered disk object
90377 Sedna	1180–1800	November 14, 2003	First object found beyond the Kuiper belt
99942 Apophis	0.3	June 19, 2004	First asteroid to rank greater than one on the Torino Scale (it was ranked at 2, then 4; now down to 1). Previously better known by its provisional designation 2004 MN4.
1993 RO		September 16, 1993	First plutino (barring Pluto itself)
Template:Mpl	0.23	1997	First asteroid to rank greater than zero on the impact-risk Torino Scale (it's ranked 1)
Template:Mpl	0.030	June 2, 1998	Approached within 800,000 km of Earth
Template:Mpl	230	January 2003	First known Neptune Trojan asteroid
Template:Mpl	0.1	January 9, 2002	Unusual Earth-associated orbit
2004 FH	0.030	2004	Discovered before it approached within 43,000 km of Earth on March 18, 2004.
Template:Mpl	0.5–1	May 10, 2004	Six-month orbital period is second shortest, second only to Mercury

Spacecraft targets

Name	Diameter (km)	Discovered	Spacecraft
1 Ceres	959×933	January 1, 1801	Target of the Dawn spacecraft
4 Vesta	468	March 29, 1807	Target of the Dawn spacecraft
21 Lutetia	96	November 15, 1852	Target of the Rosetta probe
140 Siwa	103	October 13, 1874	Abandoned target of the Rosetta probe
243 Ida	56×24×21	September 29, 1884	Visited by Galileo spacecraft
253 Mathilde	66×48×46	November 12, 1885	Visited by NEAR Shoemaker
433 Eros	13×13×33	August 13, 1898	First asteroid studied from orbit (NEAR Shoemaker, 2000-01)
951 Gaspra	19×12×11	July 30, 1916	First asteroid visited by spacecraft (Galileo, 1991)
1620 Geographos	5.1×1.8	September 14, 1951	Was the target of Clementine spacecraft
2530 Shipka		July 9, 1978	Abandoned target of the Rosetta probe
2685 Masursky	15-20	May 3, 1981	Distant observations by the Cassini spacecraft
2703 Rodari		March 29, 1979	Abandoned target of the Rosetta probe
2867 Šteins		November 4, 1969	Target of the Rosetta probe
3352 McAuliffe	2-5	February 6, 1981	Abandoned target of the Deep Space 1 probe
3840 Mimistrobell		October 9, 1980	Abandoned target of the Rosetta probe
4660 Nereus	~1	February 28, 1982	Target of the cancelled NEAP probe and abandoned target of the Hayabusa mission
4979 Otawara	5.5	August 2, 1949	Abandoned target of the Rosetta probe
5535 Annefrank	4.0	March 23, 1942	Target of the Stardust probe
9969 Braille	2.2×0.6	May 27, 1992	Target of the Deep Space 1 probe
25143 Itokawa	~1	September 26, 1998	Target of the Hayabusa sample return mission

Asteroids with the same or similar names as moons

Name	Namesake	Moon of
9 Metis	Metis	Jupiter
17 Thetis	Tethys	Saturn
24 Themis	Themis	Saturn (fictitious)
38 Leda	Leda	Jupiter
52 Europa	Europa	Jupiter
53 Kalypso	Calypso	Saturn
55 Pandora	Pandora	Saturn
74 Galatea	Galatea	Neptune
85 Io	Io	Jupiter
106 Dione	Dione	Saturn
113 Amalthea	Amalthea	Jupiter
171 Ophelia	Ophelia	Uranus
204 Kallisto	Callisto	Jupiter
218 Bianca	Bianca	Uranus
239 Adrastea	Adrastea	Jupiter
302 Clarissa	Larissa	Neptune
548 Kressida	Cressida	Uranus
558 Carmen	Carme	Jupiter
577 Rhea	Rhea	Saturn
593 Titania	Titania	Uranus
666 Desdemona	Desdemona	Uranus
900 Rosalinde	Rosalind	Uranus
1036 Ganymed	Ganymede	Jupiter
1162 Larissa	Larissa	Neptune
1285 Julietta	Juliet	Uranus
1809 Prometheus	Prometheus	Saturn
1810 Epimetheus	Epimetheus	Saturn
2758 Cordelia	Cordelia	Uranus
4450 Pan	Pan	Saturn
9313 Protea	Proteus	Neptune

Numbered asteroids that are also comets

Name	Cometary name	Comment
2060 Chiron	95P/Chiron	Discovered in 1977 as the first Centaur asteroid, later found to display cometary behavior (including a coma)
4015 Wilson-Harrington	107P/Wilson-Harrington	In 1992, it was realized that asteroid 1979VA's orbit matched it with the positions of the lost comet Wilson-Harrington (1949 III)
7968 Elst-Pizarro	133P/Elst-Pizarro	Discovered in 1996 as a comet, but orbitally matched to asteroid 1979 OW7
60558 Echeclus	174P/Echeclus	Second Centaur found to have a coma

Note there are a quite a few other cases where a non-numbered asteroid with only a systematic designation (such as Template:Mpl) turned out to be a comet. The above table lists only numbered asteroids that are also comets.

Asteroids that were misnamed and renamed

In earlier times, before the modern numbering and naming rules were in effect, asteroids were sometimes given numbers and names before their orbits were precisely known. And in a few cases duplicate names were given to the same object (with modern use of computers to calculate and compare orbits with old recorded positions, this type of error no longer occurs). This led to a few cases where asteroids had to be renamed. [1]

• 330 Adalberta
  • An object discovered March 18, 1892 by Max Wolf with provisional designation "1892 X" was named 330 Adalberta, but was lost and never recovered. In 1982 it was determined that the observations leading to the designation of 1892 X were stars, and the object never existed. The name and number 330 Adalberta was then reused for another asteroid discovered by Max Wolf on February 2, 1910, which had the provisional designation A910 CB.

• 525 Adelaide
  • The object A904 EB discovered March 14, 1904 by Max Wolf was named 525 Adelaide and was subsequently lost. Later, the object 1930 TA discovered October 3, 1930 by Sylvain Arend was named 1171 Rusthawelia. In those pre-computer days, it was not realized until 1958 that these were one and the same object. The name Rusthawelia was kept (and discovery credited to Arend); the name 525 Adelaide was reused for the object 1908 EKa discovered October 21, 1908 by Joel Hastings Metcalf.

• 715 Transvaalia and 933 Susi
  • The object 1911 LX discovered April 22, 1911 by H. E. Wood was named 715 Transvaalia. On April 23, 1920, the object 1920 GZ was discovered and named 933 Susi. In 1928 it was realized that these were one and the same object. The name Transvaalia was kept, and the name and number 933 Susi was reused for the object 1927 CH discovered February 10, 1927 by Karl Reinmuth.

• 864 Aase and 1078 Mentha
  • The object A917 CB discovered February 13, 1917 by Max Wolf was named 864 Aase, and the object 1926 XB discovered December 7, 1926 by Karl Reinmuth was named 1078 Mentha. In 1958 it was discovered that these were one and the same object. In 1974, this was resolved by keeping the name 1078 Mentha and reusing the name and number 864 Aase for the object 1921 KE, discovered September 30, 1921 by Karl Reinmuth.

• 1095 Tulipa and 1449 Virtanen
  • The object 1928 DC discovered February 24, 1928 by Karl Reinmuth was named 1095 Tulipa, and the object 1938 DO discovered February 20, 1938 by Yrjö Väisälä was named 1449 Virtanen. In 1966 it was discovered that these were one and the same object. The name 1449 Virtanen was kept and the name and number 1095 Tulipa was reused for the object 1926 GS discovered April 14, 1926 by Karl Reinmuth.

• 1125 China and 3789 Zhongguo
  • The object 1928 UF discovered October 25, 1928 by Zhang Yuzhe (Y. C. Chang) was named 1125 China, and was later lost. Later, the object Template:Mp was discovered on October 30, 1957 at Purple Mountain Observatory and was initially incorrectly believed to be the rediscovery of the object 1928 UF. The name and number 1125 China were then reused for the object Template:Mp, and 1928 UF remained lost. In 1986, the object Template:Mpl was discovered and proved to be the real rediscovery of 1928 UF. This object was given the new number and name 3789 Zhongguo. Note Zhongguo is the Mandarin Chinese word for "China", in pinyin transliteration.

• Asteroid 1317
  • The object 1914 UQ discovered April 20, 1914 by G. N. Neujmin was named 787 Moskva (and retains that name to this day). The object 1934 FD discovered on March 19, 1934 by C. Jackson was given the sequence number 1317. In 1938, G. N. Neujmin found that asteroid 1317 and 787 Moskva were one and the same object. The sequence number 1317 was later reused for the object 1935 RC discovered on September 1, 1935 by Karl Reinmuth; that object is now known as 1317 Silvretta.

Record-setting close approaches by asteroids to Earth

Only asteroids that break a previous record are included. Note that near-earth object detection technology drastically improved around the turn of the century, so objects being detected today (in 2004) would have been missed only a decade earlier.

Distance (AU)	Distance Mm	Size (m)	Date of closest approach	Object
0.000043	6	radius of Earth
0.000086	13	6	2004 March 31	Template:Mpl
0.00033	49	30	2004 March 18	2004 FH
0.00056	84		2003 September 27	Template:Mpl
0.00072	108		1994 December 9	Template:Mpl
0.00099	148		1993 May 20	Template:Mpl
0.00114	171		1991 January 18	1991 BA
0.00257	386	average distance of the Moon
0.00457	684		1989 March 22	4581 Asclepius
0.00495	741	400 x 2	1937 October 30	69230 Hermes

See also: Closest Approaches to the Earth by Minor Planets

Exceptionally slow-rotating objects

Rotation periods have been determined for only a small fraction of asteroids (from light curves or from radar studies). Most asteroids have rotation periods of less than 24 hours; however, 288 Glauke has a rotation period of about 50 days.

Name	Rotation period (hours)
288 Glauke	1200
1220 Crocus	737
253 Mathilde	417.7
Template:Mpl	234
3691 Bede	226.8
9969 Braille	226.4
Template:Mpl	216
Template:Mpl	200

See also: Minor Planet Lightcurve Parameters

See also

• List of solar system objects by mass
• List of numbered Aten asteroids
• List of asteroids named after people
• List of Apollo asteroids
• List of Amor asteroids
• List of Centaurs
• List of scattered-disk objects
• List of asteroids with moons
• Wikipedia Project: Astronomical Objects
• List of Mercury-crossing asteroids
• List of Venus-crossing asteroids
• List of Earth-crossing asteroids
• List of Mars-crossing asteroids
• List of Jupiter-crossing asteroids
• List of Saturn-crossing asteroids
• List of Uranus-crossing asteroids
• List of Neptune-crossing asteroids

External links

• Lists and plots: Minor Planets
• PDS Asteroid Data Archive
• SBN Small Bodies Data Archive
• NASA Near Earth Object Program
• Major News About Minor Objects

Books

Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, 5th ed.: Prepared on Behalf of Commission 20 Under the Auspices of the International Astronomical Union, Lutz D. Schmadel, ISBN 3540002383he:אסטרואידים it:Lista degli asteroidi principali de:Liste bemerkenswerter Asteroiden