Asteroid Data

Information on Selected Asteroids

Asteroid              Diameter     Mass    Rotation  Orbital  Spectral   Semimajor     Orbital        Orbital
Number and Name         (km)       (kg)     Period    Period    Class      Axis     Eccentricity   Inclination

   1 Ceres              974        1e21     9.078 h   4.60 y      C       2.767 AU      0.079        10.6 deg
   2 Pallas             538      250e18     7.811 h   4.61 y      U       2.771 AU      0.235        34.8 deg
   3 Juno               268       20e18     7.21  h   4.36 y      S       2.670 AU      0.256        13.0 deg
   4 Vesta              526      300e18     5.342 h   3.63 y      U       2.362 AU      0.088         7.1 deg
 243 Ida              58 x 23    100e15     4.633 h   4.84 y      S       2.862 AU      0.044         2.1 deg
 253 Mathilde            61      200e15   418.    h   4.31 y      C       2.645 AU      0.266         6.7 deg
 433 Eros           41 x 15 x 14   5e15     5.270 h   1.76 y      S       1.458 AU      0.223        10.8 deg
 951 Gaspra         19 x 12 x 11  10e15     7.042 h   3.29 y      S       2.210 AU      0.146         5.1 deg
1566 Icarus             1.4        1e12     2.273 h   1.12 y      U       1.078 AU      0.827        23.0 deg
1620 Geographos         2.0        4e12     5.222 h   1.39 y      S       1.244 AU      0.335        13.3 deg
1862 Apollo             1.6        2e12     3.063 h   1.81 y      S       1.486 AU      0.566         6.4 deg
2060 Chiron             180        4e18     5.9   h   50.7 y      B      13.699 AU      0.383         6.9 deg
2062 Aten               0.9                                       S              0.97 AU       0.18
2530 Shipka                                           5.25 y              3.020 AU      0.123        10.1 deg
3840 Mimistrobell                                     3.38 y              2.250 AU      0.082         3.9 deg
4179 Toutatis     4.6 x 2.4 x 1.9 50e12    irregular  1.10 y      S       0.921 AU      0.634         0.5 deg
4769 Castalia        1.8 x 0.8    500e9               0.41 y              0.550 AU      0.483         8.9 deg

Notes:

1 Ceres - The largest and first discovered asteroid, by G. Piazzi on January 1, 1801. Ceres comprises nearly half the 2.3e21 kg estimated total mass of all the asteroids.
2 Pallas - The 2nd largest asteroid and second asteroid discovered, by H. Olbers in 1802.
3 Juno - The 3rd asteroid discovered, by K. Harding in 1804.
4 Vesta - The 3rd largest asteroid, Vesta appears to have a basaltic crust overlying an olivine mantle, indicating differentiation has occurred. Imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995.
243 Ida - Imaged by Galileo on August 28, 1993. These images showed a small satellite, subsequently named Dactyl, in orbit about Ida.
253 Mathilde - Target of NEAR mission flyby on 27 June 1997 en route to 433 Eros.
433 Eros - Near-Earth asteroid scheduled to be studied by the NEAR mission, which will be put into orbit about Eros in February 1999.
951 Gaspra - Imaged by Galileo on Oct. 29, 1991.
1566 Icarus - Highly eccentric Earth-crossing orbit.
1620 Geographos - Scheduled to be visited by Clementine before a computer malfunction cut the mission short.
1862 Apollo - Earth-crossing asteroid.
2060 Chiron - Asteroid/Comet (95P/Chiron) in chaotic eccentric orbit near Saturn and Uranus. First perihelion since 1945 will occur on 14 February, 1996. Chiron is showing increased activity as it approaches the Sun.
2530 Shipka - Scheduled for October, 2008, flyby by the Rosetta spacecraft on its way to Comet P/Wirtanen
3840 Mimistrobell - Scheduled for September, 2006, flyby by the Rosetta spacecraft on its way to Comet P/Wirtanen
4179 Toutatis - Double object, probably in contact, one 2.5 km and one 1.5 km diameter (estimated), imaged by Arecibo and Goldstone radar. Next close approach to Earth of this object (0.0354 AU) will be on 30 November 1996.
4769 Castalia - Double-lobed near-Earth asteroid, each lobe about .75 km diameter. Imaged by Arecibo radar.

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