Amor asteroid
An amor asteroid is a group of asteroids found near Earth that were named after 1221 Amor. While some other kinds of asteroids cross over Mars' and Earth's orbits, nearly all of the amor asteroids do not. The best known amor asteroid is 433 Eros. It circled around and landed upon by the NEAR Shoemaker. About 1,200 of all the asteroids in space are amor asteroids, with about 200 of them numbered, or given a number. Only 50 amor asteroids are named.
Some notable amor asteroids
The following are a few of the most notable amor asteroids, in reverse order of discovery:
Name | Year | Discoverer |
---|---|---|
3908 Nyx | 1980 | Hans-Emil Schuster |
1221 Amor | 1932 | Eugène Joseph Delporte |
1036 Ganymed | 1924 | Walter Baade |
887 Alinda | 1918 | Max Wolf |
719 Albert | 1911 | Johann Palisa |
433 Eros | 1898 | Gustav Witt |
Amor Asteroid Media
Amor asteroid Eros visited by NEAR Shoemaker in 2000