List of Earth-crossing asteroids



An Earth-crosser is a near-Earth asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Earth as observed from the ecliptic pole of Earth's orbit. The known numbered Earth-crossers are listed here. Those Earth-crossers whose semi-major axes are smaller than Earth's are Aten asteroids; the remaining ones are Apollo asteroids. (See also the Amor asteroids.)

An asteroid with an Earth-crossing orbit is not necessarily in danger of colliding with Earth. The orbit of an Earth-crossing asteroid may not even intersect with that of Earth. This apparent contradiction arises because many asteroids have highly inclined orbits, so although they may have a perihelion less than that of Earth, their paths can never cross. An asteroid for which there is some possibility of a collision with Earth at a future date and which is above a certain size is classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA). Specifically, an asteroid is a PHA if its Earth minimum orbital intersection distance (MOID) is <0.05 AU and its absolute magnitude is 22 or brighter. The concept of PHA is intended to replace the now abandoned strict definition of ECA (Earth-crossing asteroid) which existed for a few years. Determining if an asteroid was an ECA required calculation of its orbits millennia into the future, including planetary gravitational perturbations, to assess whether a collision with Earth was possible and this has proved to be impractical.

Having a small MOID is not a guarantee of a collision. On the other hand, small gravitational perturbations of the asteroid around its orbit from planets that it passes can significantly alter its path. For instance, 99942 Apophis will approach Earth so closely in 2029 that it will get under the orbit of the Earth's geostationary satellites.

Of the Earth-crossing asteroids, 3753 Cruithne is notable for having an orbit that has the same period as Earth's.

List
• 1 1566 Icarus

• 2 1620 Geographos

• 3 1685 Toro

• 4 1862 Apollo

• 5 1863 Antinous

• 6 1864 Daedalus

• 7 1865 Cerberus

• 8 1866 Sisyphus

• 9 1981 Midas

• 10 2016 NL56

• 11 2062 Aten

• 12 2063 Bacchus

• 13 2100 Ra-Shalom

• 14 2101 Adonis

• 15 2102 Tantalus

• 16 2135 Aristaeus

• 17 2201 Oljato

• 18 2212 Hephaistos

• 19 2329 Orthos

• 20 2340 Hathor

• 21 3103 Eger

• 22 3200 Phaethon

• 23 3360 Syrinx

• 24 3361 Orpheus

• 25 3362 Khufu

• 26 3554 Amun

• 27 3671 Dionysus †

• 28 3752 Camillo †

• 29 3753 Cruithne

• 30 3838 Epona

• 31 4015 Wilson–Harrington †

• 32 4034 Vishnu

• 33 4179 Toutatis

• 34 4183 Cuno

• 35 4197 Morpheus

• 36 4257 Ubasti

• 37 4341 Poseidon

• 38 4450 Pan

• 39 4486 Mithra

• 40 4544 Xanthus

• 41 4581 Asclepius

• 42 4660 Nereus

• 43 4769 Castalia

• 44

• 45 5011 Ptah

• 46

• 47 5143 Heracles

• 48

• 49 5381 Sekhmet

• 50

• 51

• 52

• 53

• 54

• 55

• 56 5731 Zeus

• 57 5786 Talos

• 58

• 59

• 60

• 61 †

• 62 6063 Jason

• 63 6239 Minos

• 64

• 65 6489 Golevka †

• 66

• 67 †

• 68 7092 Cadmus

• 69

• 70

• 71

• 72

• 73

• 74

• 75

• 76

• 77

• 78

• 79

• 80

• 81

• 82

• 83 †

• 84 9162 Kwiila

• 85

• 86

• 87

• 88

• 89

• 90 10563 Izhdubar

• 91

• 92 11066 Sigurd

• 93 11311 Peleus †

• 94

• 95 11500 Tomaiyowit

• 96 11885 Summanus

• 97

• 98 12711 Tukmit

• 99 12923 Zephyr †

• 100

• 1 14827 Hypnos

• 2

• 3

• 4

• 5

• 6

• 7

• 8

• 9

• 10

• 11

• 12

• 13

• 14

• 15

• 16

• 17

• 18 †

• 19 24761 Ahau

• 20 25143 Itokawa

• 21

• 22

• 23

• 24 †

• 25

• 26

• 27

• 28

• 29

• 30

• 31

• 32

• 33

• 34

• 35

• 36

• 37 37655 Illapa

• 38 38086 Beowulf

• 39

• 40

• 41

• 42

• 43 †

• 44

• 45

• 46

• 47

• 48

• 49

• 50

• 51

• 52 †

• 53 54509 YORP

• 54

• 55

• 56

• 57

• 58 †

• 59

• 60 65803 Didymos †

• 61

• 62

• 63

• 64

• 65

• 66 66391 Moshup

• 67

• 68

• 69

• 70

• 71

• 72

• 73

• 74

• 75

• 76

• 77

• 78 69230 Hermes

• 79

• 80

• 81 85585 Mjolnir

• 82

• 83

• 84

• 85

• 86

• 87

• 88

• 89

• 90

• 91

• 92

• 93

• 94

• 95 †

• 96

• 97

• 98

• 99

• 100

• 1

• 2

• 3

• 4

• 5

• 6

• 7 †

• 8

• 9

• 10

• 11 †

• 12

• 13

• 14

• 15 99942 Apophis

• 16

• 17

• 18 367943 Duende

• 19

• 20

• 21

• 22

• 23

• 24 524522 Zoozve

• 25

• 26

• 27

• 28

• 29 2020 QG

Notes: † outer-grazer