In this assignment you will need to reference the Asteroid Day web page at: http
ID: 287044 • Letter: I
Question
In this assignment you will need to reference the Asteroid Day web page at: https.fasteroidday.org. Scroll down to the “Asteroid Education" links-Using the "Asteroid Basics" link find answers to the following 4 questions: 1/ Write down the definition that applies to the orbit of an Apollo near-Earth asteroid. 2/ Write down the definition that applies to the orbit of an Aten near-Earth asteroid. 3/ Write down the definition that applies to the orbit of an Amor near-Earth asteroid. / When, where and who discovered the first near-Earth asteroid, and what is its name? 5/ Use the internet (e.g., Wikipedia) to find the semi-major axis a, perihelion q, and aphelion Q distances of asteroid 4179 Toutatis (shown left), write them down and explairn what sort of NEA object it is (Apollo, Amor or Aten). a (AU) q (AU)- Q(AU)Explanation / Answer
1. Earth-crossing NEAs with semi-major axes (a) larger than Earth's (named after asteroid 1862 Apollo). i.e., a>1.0 AU, q<1.017 AU. where a= semi-major axes , q= perihelion distance
2. Earth-crossing NEAs with semi-major axes smaller than Earth’s (named after asteroid 2062 Aten). i.e., a<1.0 AU, Q>0.983 AU. where a= semi-major axes, Q= aphelion distance
3. Earth-approaching NEAs with orbits exterior to Earth’s but interior to Mars’ (named after asteroid 1221 Amor) i.e., a>1.0 AU, 1.017<q<1.3 AU where a= semi-major axes, q= perihelion distance
4. The first Near Earth Asteroid was discovered in 13 August 1898 from the Urania Sternwarte Berlin by Gustav Witt. It is named as NEA(433) Eros.