Apollo

1862 Apollo (1932 HA)

Near-Earth Potentially Hazardous
Space Reference » Apollo-class Asteroids » Apollo

Key Facts

  • Categorized as a Apollo-class Asteroid
  • Comparable in size to the U.S. Pentagon (1.50 km diameter)
  • Will pass within 5,279,647 km of Earth in 2046
  • Classified as a Near Earth Asteroid (NEA)
  • Classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA)
  • See orbit simulation

Overview

Apollo is a mid-sized asteroid whose orbit crosses the orbit of Earth. NASA JPL has classified Apollo as a "Potentially Hazardous Asteroid" due to its predicted close pass(es) with Earth.

Apollo orbits the sun every 652 days (1.79 years), coming as close as 0.65 AU and reaching as far as 2.29 AU from the sun. Apollo is about 1.5 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 99% of asteroids, comparable in size to the U.S. Pentagon.

The rotation of Apollo has been observed. It completes a rotation on its axis every 3.07 hours.

Apollo's spectral type Q (Tholen) / Q (SMASSII) indicates that it is likely to contain .

Close Approaches

Apollo's orbit is 0.03 AU from Earth's orbit at its closest point. This means that there is a wide berth between this asteroid and Earth at all times.

Apollo has 13 close approaches predicted in the coming decades:

Date Distance from Earth (km) Velocity (km/s)
Nov. 13, 2046 5,279,647 17.982
May 13, 2048 7,444,170 16.150
Nov. 17, 2071 15,949,681 20.338
May 20, 2073 19,736,685 13.579
Nov. 5, 2080 14,649,700 14.572
May 12, 2082 4,982,786 17.507
May 6, 2091 20,276,916 21.151
Nov. 19, 2141 17,111,624 20.586
May 28, 2143 27,633,680 12.105
Nov. 10, 2150 8,643,211 15.851
May 14, 2152 6,036,928 16.682
May 6, 2161 22,455,113 21.553
Nov. 22, 2193 26,181,746 22.449

Images and Observations

Apollo's orbit is determined by observations dating back to Dec. 13, 1930. It was last officially observed on May 27, 2023. The IAU Minor Planet Center records 2,923 observations used to determine its orbit.

Scientists have been able to determine this object's shape:

View asteroid Apollo in 3D.

Accessibility and Exploration

This asteroid is not considered a viable target for human exploration by the NHATS study.

Similar Objects

These objects have orbits that share similar characteristics to the orbit of Apollo:

References

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Orbital Elements

  • Epoch: 2460200.5 JD
  • Semi-major axis: 1.471 AU
  • Eccentricity: 0.5599
  • Inclination: 6.35°
  • Longitude of Ascending Node: 35.56°
  • Argument of Periapsis: 286.05°
  • Mean Anomaly: 31.77°

Physical Characteristics

  • Diameter: 1.50000 km
  • Magnitude: 16.1
  • Albedo: 0.25
  • Spectral type (Tholen): Q
  • Spectral type (SMASS): Q

Derived Characteristics

  • Orbit Period: 652 days (1.79 years)
  • Avg. Orbit Speed: 24.54 km/s
  • Aphelion Distance: 2.29 AU
  • Perihelion Distance: 0.65 AU
  • Rotation Period: 3.07 hours
  • Approx. Composition: .

Map Comparison

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Orbit Simulation

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Sky Map

The position of Apollo is indicated by a ◯ pink circle. Note that the object may not be in your current field of view. Use the controls below to adjust position, location, and time.

Size Rendering

The above comparison is an artistic rendering that uses available data on the diameter of Apollo to create an approximate landscape rendering with Mount Everest in the background. This approximation is built for full-resolution desktop browsers. Shape, color, and texture of asteroid are imagined.