2101 Adonis

2101 Adonis was one of the first near-Earth asteroids to be discovered. It was discovered by Eugene Delporte in 1936 and named after Adonis, the beautiful youth with whom the goddess Venus fell in love. Adonis is believed to measure approximately 1 km in diameter.

In the close approach that led to its initial discovery, not enough observations could be made to calculate an orbit, and Adonis was lost until 1977 when it was rediscovered by Charles T. Kowal.

Adonis was the second Apollo asteroid to be discovered (after 1862 Apollo itself). It may be an extinct comet, and may be the source of some meteor showers.

It comes within 30 Gm of the Earth six times in the 21st century, the nearest being 5.3 Gm in 2036.

Adonis in fiction

See Asteroids in fiction.

In the 1954 Tintin comic book Explorers on the Moon, a drunken Captain Haddock almost becomes a satellite of the asteroid, which is improbably depicted passing between the Earth and the Moon.

External links

• Long-lost planet 1936 CA ("Adonis") recovered