1862 Apollo

1862 Apollo is a Q-type asteroid, discovered by Karl Reinmuth in 1932, but lost and not recovered until 1973. It is named after the Greek god Apollo.

It is the namesake of the Apollo asteroids, and the first one discovered, although because it was lost for a time its asteroid number (1862) is higher than that of some other Apollo asteroids such as 1566 Icarus. Analysis of the spin of this object provided observational evidence of the YORP effect.

It was the first asteroid recognized to cross Earth's orbit. It is also a Venus- and Mars-crosser asteroid.

Moon

On November 4, 2005, it was announced that an asteroid moon, or satellite of Apollo has been detected by radar observations from Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico, 29 October–2 November, 2005. The standard provisional designation for this satellite is S/2005 (1862) 1. The announcement is contained in the International Astronomical Union Circular (IAUC) 8627 The satellite is just 80 m across and orbits Apollo closely, in an orbit a mere 3 km in radius

External links

• NASA JPL orbital simulation 1862 Apollo (Java)