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Approximately one-third of the asteroids in the asteroid belt are members of an asteroid family. These share similar orbital elements, such as semi-major axis, eccentricity, and orbital inclination as well as similar spectral features, which indicate a common origin in the breakup of a larger body. Graphical displays of these element pairs, for ...
[16] [17] [18] An astronomical unit, or AU, is the distance from Earth to the Sun, which is approximately 150 billion meters (93 million miles). [19] Small Solar System objects are classified by their orbits: [20] [21] Main Asteroid belt (main belt), between Mars and Jupiter, in near circular orbit, 2.2 to 3.2 AU
65803 Didymos (provisional designation 1996 GT) is a sub-kilometer asteroid and binary system that is classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid and near-Earth object of the Apollo group. [a] The asteroid was discovered in 1996 by the Spacewatch survey at Kitt Peak, and its small 160-meter minor-planet moon, named Dimorphos, was
The average distance to the Moon (or lunar distance (LD)) is about 384,400 km (238,900 mi), which is around 30 times the diameter of the Earth. [3] Below are lists of close approaches less than one LD for a given year. (See also near-Earth asteroids and NEO Earth Close Approaches.)
10 Hygiea is a major asteroid located in the main asteroid belt.With a mean diameter of between 425 and 440 km and a mass estimated to be 3% of the total mass of the belt, [11] it is the fourth-largest asteroid in the Solar System by both volume and mass, and is the largest of the C-type asteroids (dark asteroids with a carbonaceous surface) in classifications that use G type for 1 Ceres.
Called a "mini-moon" of sorts by some, it temporarily entered Earth's orbit on Sept. 29 from the Arjuna asteroid belt, which follows a similar orbital path around the sun as the Earth.
Dinkinesh is the second binary main-belt asteroid explored by spacecraft, after 243 Ida by Galileo in 1993. The Dinkinesh binary system resembles the 65803 Didymos near-Earth asteroid binary system in size and composition, but differs in location from the Sun, which allows scientists to compare the nature of binary asteroids in different ...
Earth tends to pull asteroids into partial or full orbits around it regularly before they are flung back out into space. For instance, one such space rock 2022 NX 1 was a short-lived “mini-moon ...