1862 Apollo is a Q-type asteroid

Q-type asteroid

Q-type asteroids are relatively uncommon inner-belt asteroids with a strong, broad 1 micrometre olivine and pyroxene feature, and a spectral slope that indiciates the presence of metal...

, discovered by Karl Reinmuth in 1932, but lost and not recovered until 1973. It is named after the Greek god Apollo

Apollo

Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...

.

It is the namesake of the Apollo asteroid

Apollo asteroid

The Apollo asteroids are a group of near-Earth asteroids named after 1862 Apollo, the first asteroid of this group to be discovered by Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth...

s, 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

1566 Icarus

1566 Icarus is an Apollo asteroid that at perihelion comes closer to the Sun than Mercury, i.e. it is a Mercury-crossing asteroid. It is also a Venus and Mars-crosser. It is named after Icarus of Greek mythology, who flew too close to the Sun...

. Analysis of the spin of this object provided observational evidence of the YORP effect.

It was the first asteroid recognized to cross Earth

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

's orbit. It is also a Venus-

Venus-crosser asteroid

A Venus-crosser is an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Venus. The known numbered Venus-crossers and outer-grazers are listed below .Venus also has a quasi-satellite, 2002 VE68...

 and Mars-crosser asteroid

Mars-crosser asteroid

A Mars-crosser is an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars. The known numbered Mars-crossers are listed here. They include the two numbered Mars trojans 5261 Eureka and ....

.

Moon

On November 4, 2005, it was announced that an asteroid moon

Asteroid moon

A minor planet moon is an astronomical body that orbits a minor planet as its natural satellite. It is thought that many asteroids and Kuiper belt objects may possess moons, in some cases quite substantial in size...

, or satellite of Apollo, had been detected by radar observations from Arecibo Observatory

Arecibo Observatory

The Arecibo Observatory is a radio telescope near the city of Arecibo in Puerto Rico. It is operated by SRI International under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation...

, Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

, October 29 – November 2, 2005. The standard provisional designation for this satellite is S/2005 (1862) 1. The announcement is contained in the International Astronomical Union

International Astronomical Union

The International Astronomical Union IAU is a collection of professional astronomers, at the Ph.D. level and beyond, active in professional research and education in astronomy...

 Circular (IAUC) 8627 http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iauc/08600/08627.html. The satellite is just 80 m across and orbits Apollo closely, in an orbit a mere 3 km in radius http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/astro/astmoons/am-01862.html.

External links

• (1862) Apollo in the Minor Planet Center
  Minor Planet Center
  The Minor Planet Center operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory , which is part of the Center for Astrophysics along with the Harvard College Observatory ....
  
  's Database
• NASA JPL orbital simulation 1862 Apollo (Java)