Near-Earth Asteroids — An Exploratory Analysis

Fig 1 — Asteroid 243 Ida as seen by the Galileo probe on August 28, 1993. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Processed by Kevin M. Gill, Ida’s moon Dactyl is on the right

Our Solar System is a strange place and there’s a lot we don’t know and don’t fully understand. There’s no better way to reflect on this point than to take a historical perspective. The discovery and characterisation of the planets and other bodies in our Solar System can serve as a great starting point. I’ve been spending some time on Solar System dynamics and thought I’d take a close look at asteroids…