A Chronology of Asteroid Studies
from "Asteroids Their Nature and Utilization", 2nd ed., by Charles T.
Kowal.
1776 Johannes Titius develops a mathematical formula which describes the distances
of all the known planets from the Sun. Later popularized by Johann Bode, the "Titius
- Bode law" suggests that there should be a planet between the orbits of
Mars and Jupiter.
1801 Giuseppe Piazzi discovers first Asteroid, Ceres.
1867 Kirkwood shows gaps in the Asteroid belt at simple fractions of Jupiter's
orbital period.
1891 Max Wolf begins a photographic survey of the asteroids.
1898 Witt discovers Eros, the first asteroid known to cross the orbit of Mars.
1906 Wolf discovers Achilles, the first Trojan asteroid.
1918 Hirayama shows that some asteroids belong to "families" with similar
orbital characteristics.
1920 Baade discovers Hidalgo, the first asteroid known to travel beyond the orbit
of Saturn.
1932 Delporte discovers Amor.
1932 Reinmuth discovers Apollo, the first asteroid known to cross the Earth's
orbit.
1937 Reinmuth discovers Hermes, which passes less than a million kilometers from
the Earth.
1949 Kuiper begins the Yerkes - McDonald asteroid survey.
1960 Gehrels et al. begin the Palomar - Leiden survey.
1968 Icarus is observed by radar.
1971 The first Tucson asteroid conference is held.
1976 Helin discovers Aten, the first asteroid whose average orbital radius is
less than the Earth's.
1977 Kowal discovers Chiron, whose orbit lies between Saturn and Uranus.
1983 IRAS observes thousands of asteroids at infrared wavelengths.
1991 Galileo obtains images of asteroid Gaspra. These provide our first closeup
views of an asteroid.
1992 Jewitt and Luu discover 1992 QB1, the first member of the presumed Kuiper
Belt.
1993 Galileo images asteroid Ida and its satellite Dactyl, conclusive evidence
of asteroid satellites.
1994 Comet Shoemaker - Levy 9 crashes into Jupiter, leaving huge dark spots that
lasted for months.
1996 Launch of NEAR mission to the Asteroid Eros.
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For current Near Earth Objects information go to www.nearearthobjects.co.uk
and read the "Report of the Task Force on potentially hazardous Near Earth
Objects". See also neo.jpl.nasa.gov
and Asteroid and Comet Impact Hazards.
Also:
"Introduction to Asteroids" by Cunningham
"Rain of Iron and Ice" by Lewis
"Comet and Asteroid Impact Hazards on a Populated Earth", by Lewis
"Meteorites and Their Parent Planets", 2nd ed., by McSween
"Dictionary of Minor Planet Names" by Schmadel
"Encyclopedia of Planetary Sciences" edited by Shirley and Fairbridge
"Asteroids", "Asteroids II", and "Hazards due to Comets
and Asteroids" edited by Gehrels