433 Eros
Asteroid 433 Eros was the first asteroid known as a near-Earth object -- an asteroid whose orbit approached the orbit of Planet Earth.[1]
Eros is also known as the first asteroid to be orbited by a space probe, the NEAR space probe -- in 2000.[1] The probe eventually landed on Eros, on February 12, 2001.
Eros is 16.84 kilometres (10.46 mi) in diameter.[2] It takes 643 days to orbit Sol, our sun.
References
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"433 Eros". NASA Science. 2017-11-18. Archived from the original on 2026-03-28. Retrieved 2026-06-09.
Eros is famous as the first asteroid to be orbited by a spacecraft, and the first asteroid to have a spacecraft land on it. But Eros was important to astronomers as far back as 1898 when it became the first near-Earth asteroid (NEA) to be discovered.
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"Asteroid Eros". Space Reference. Archived from the original on 2021-01-20. Retrieved 2026-06-09.
Eros is a large asteroid whose orbit approaches the orbit of Earth but does not cross it. NASA JPL has classified Eros as a 'Near Earth Asteroid' due to its orbit's proximity to Earth, but it is not considered potentially hazardous because computer simulations have not indicated any imminent likelihood of future collision.