~AMOR, The Love Asteroids~

[Heathcliff]

Also known as Earth-grazing asteroids, one of three groups of near-Earth asteroids. The orbits of Amor asteroids have perihelia between 1.017 AU (Earth's aphelion distance) and 1.3 AU (Mars' perihelion distance). The prototype of the group is the one-km-wide (1221) Amor, discovered in 1932 by Eugène Delaporte. The largest members are (1036) Ganymed, with a diameter of 40 km, and (433) Eros. About 1,500 Amors have been catalogued.

Amor asteroids vary widely in composition, which indicates they have come from different parts of the main asteroid belt and have been perturbed into their present orbits by either Jupiter or Mars. Close approaches to Earth and Mars can further alter their paths so that they temporarily become Earth-crossing Apollo group asteroids. About one in ten Amors will cross Earth's orbit in the course of a few hundred to a few thousand years.


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