near-Earth asteroid
Eros
The first near-Earth asteroid ever discovered and the first asteroid orbited – and landed on – by a spacecraft, NEAR Shoemaker.
- Distance from Earth today
- 357.3 million km2.388 AU · light: 19 min 52 s
- Distance from the Sun today
- 260.5 million km1.741 AU
- As of
- 2 November 2026position from NASA/JPL orbital elements
Where it is today
Top view of the plane of Earth’s orbit, compressed distance scale. Open on the big map with the time slider →
Facts
- Diameter
- 17 km
- Dimensions
- 34.4 × 11.2 × 11.2 km
- Mass
- 0.00669 × 10¹⁸ kg
- Density
- 2,670 kg/m³
- Rotation period
- 5.3 h
- Semi-major axis
- 1.458 AU (218.2 million km)
- Perihelion
- 1.133 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.783 AU
- Orbital period
- 1.76 years
- Orbital eccentricity
- 0.223
- Orbital inclination
- 10.8°
- Last perihelion
- 17 February 2026
- Next perihelion
- 22 November 2027
- Minimum orbit distance from Earth’s orbit (MOID)
- 0.149 AU (22.26 million km)
- Albedo
- 0.250
Source of the figures: JPL Small-Body Database (public domain).
Discovery: 1898 – Gustav Witt
Description
Eros was discovered in 1898 by Gustav Witt in Berlin and was the first asteroid found whose orbit brings it near Earth's. Its close approaches were used in the early 20th century to refine the scale of the Solar System. In 2000 NASA's NEAR Shoemaker became the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid, mapping Eros's elongated, saddle-shaped body covered in craters, boulders and fine regolith. At the end of its mission in February 2001, the probe was gently set down on the surface, making the first landing on an asteroid even though it had not been designed for it.