List of exceptional asteroids

The following is a collection of lists of asteroids of the Solar System that are exceptional in some way, such as their size or orbit. For the purposes of this article, "asteroid" refers to minor planets out to the orbit of Neptune, and includes the dwarf planet Ceres, the Jupiter trojans and the centaurs, but not trans-Neptunian objects. For a complete list of minor planets in numerical order, see List of minor planets.
Asteroids are given minor planet numbers, but not all minor planets are asteroids. Minor planet numbers are also given to objects of the Kuiper belt, which is similar to the asteroid belt but farther out. Asteroids are mostly between 2–3 AU from the Sun or at the orbit of Jupiter, 5 AU from the Sun. Comets are not typically included under minor planet numbers, and have their own naming conventions.
Asteroids are given a unique sequential identifying number once their orbit is precisely determined. Prior to this, they are known only by their systematic name or provisional designation, such as.

Physical characteristics

Largest by diameter

Estimating the sizes of asteroids from observations is difficult due to their irregular shapes, varying albedo, and small angular diameter. Observations by the Very Large Telescope of most large asteroids were published 2019–2021.
The number of bodies grows rapidly as the size decreases. Based on IRAS data there are about 140 main-belt asteroids with a diameter greater than 120 km, which is approximately the transition point between surviving primordial asteroids and fragments thereof. For a more complete list, see List of Solar System objects by size.
The inner asteroid belt has few large asteroids. Of those in the above list, only 4 Vesta, 19 Fortuna, 6 Hebe, 7 Iris and 9 Metis orbit there.

Most massive

Below are the sixteen most-massive measured asteroids. Ceres, at a third the estimated mass of the asteroid belt, is half again as massive as the next fifteen put together. The masses of asteroids are estimated from perturbations they induce on the orbits of other asteroids, except for asteroids that have been visited by spacecraft or have an observable moon, where a direct mass calculation is possible. Different sets of astrometric observations lead to different mass determinations; the biggest problem is accounting for the aggregate perturbations caused by all of the smaller asteroids.

Name	Mass	Precision	Approx. proportion of all asteroids
1 Ceres	938.35	0.001%	39.2%
4 Vesta	259.076	0.0004%	10.8%
2 Pallas	204	1.5%	8.5%
10 Hygiea	87	8%	3.6%
704 Interamnia	35	14%	1.5%
15 Eunomia	30	6%	1.3%
3 Juno	27	9%	1.1%
511 Davida	27	27%	1.1%
52 Europa	24	16%	1.0%
16 Psyche	23	13%	1.0%
532 Herculina	≈ 23	?	≈ 1%
31 Euphrosyne	17	18%	0.7%
65 Cybele	15	12%	0.6%
87 Sylvia	14.76	0.4%	0.6%
7 Iris	14	17%	0.6%
29 Amphitrite	13	16%	0.5%
6 Hebe	12	20%	0.5%
88 Thisbe	12	20%	0.5%
107 Camilla	11.2	1%	0.5%
324 Bamberga	10	9%	0.4%
Total	1781	NA	75%

The proportions assume that the total mass of the asteroid belt is, or .
Outside the top four, the ranking of all the asteroids is uncertain, as there is a great deal of overlap among the estimates.
The largest asteroids with an accurately measured mass, because they have been studied by the probe Dawn, are 1 Ceres with a mass of, and 4 Vesta at. The third-largest asteroid with an accurately measured mass, because it has moons, is 87 Sylvia at. Other large asteroids with masses measured from their moons are 107 Camilla and 130 Elektra.
For a more complete list, see List of Solar System objects by size. Other large asteroids such as 423 Diotima currently only have estimated masses.

Brightest from Earth

Only Vesta is regularly bright enough to be seen with the naked eye. Under ideal viewing conditions with very dark skies, a keen eye might be able to also see Ceres, as well as Pallas and Iris at their rare perihelic oppositions. The following asteroids can all reach an apparent magnitude brighter than or equal to the +8.3 attained by Saturn's moon Titan at its brightest, which was discovered 145 years before the first asteroid was found owing to its closeness to the easily observed Saturn.
None of the asteroids in the outer part of the asteroid belt can ever attain this brightness. Even Hygiea and Interamnia rarely reach magnitudes of above 10.0. This is due to the different distributions of spectral types within different sections of the asteroid belt: the highest-albedo asteroids are all concentrated closer to the orbit of Mars, and much lower albedo C and D types are common in the outer belt.
Those asteroids with very high eccentricities will only reach their maximum magnitude rarely, when their perihelion is very close to a heliocentric conjunction with Earth, or when the asteroid passes very close to Earth.

Asteroid	Magnitude when brightest	Semi- major axis	Eccentricity of orbit	Diameter	Year of discovery
99942 Apophis	3.4^*	0.922	0.191	0.32	2004
4 Vesta	5.20	2.361	0.089172	529	1807
2 Pallas	6.49	2.773	0.230725	544	1802
1 Ceres	6.65	2.766	0.079905	952	1801
7 Iris	6.73	2.385	0.231422	200	1847
433 Eros	6.8	1.458	0.222725	34 × 11 × 11	1898
	6.85	1.711	0.467207	0.93	2001
367943 Duende	7.04	0.910	0.089319	0.04 × 0.02	2012
6 Hebe	7.5	2.425	0.201726	186	1847
3 Juno	7.5	2.668	0.258194	233	1804
18 Melpomene	7.5	2.296	0.218708	141	1852
	7.74	1.448	0.639770	0.5	1998
15 Eunomia	7.9	2.643	0.187181	268	1851
8 Flora	7.9	2.202	0.156207	128	1847
324 Bamberga	8.0	2.682	0.338252	229	1892
1036 Ganymed	8.1	2.6657	0.533710	32	1924
9 Metis	8.1	2.387	0.121441	190	1848
192 Nausikaa	8.2	2.404	0.246216	103	1879
20 Massalia	8.3	2.409	0.142880	145	1852

* Apophis will only achieve that brightness on April 13, 2029. It typically has an apparent magnitude of 20–22.

Slowest rotators

This list contains the slowest-rotating known minor planets with a period of at least 1000 hours, or 41 days, while most bodies have rotation periods between 2 and 20 hours. Also see Potentially slow rotators for minor planets with an insufficiently accurate period.

#	Minor planet designation	Rotation period	Δmag	Quality	Orbit or family	Spectral type	Diameter	Abs. mag	Refs
1.		1880	0.6	2	NEO	S	0.782	17.9
2.	846 Lipperta	1641	0.30	2	Themis	CBU:	52.41	10.26
3.	2440 Educatio	1561	0.80	2	Flora	S	6.51	13.1
4.	912 Maritima	1332	0.18	3−	MBA	C	82.14	9.30
5.	9165 Raup	1320	1.34	3−	Hungaria	S	4.62	13.60
6.	1235 Schorria	1265	1.40	3	Hungaria	CX:	5.04	13.10
7.	50719 Elizabethgriffin	1256	0.42	2	Eunomia	S	3.40	14.65
8.		1234.2	0.69	2	Vestian	S	2.96	15.01
9.	288 Glauke	1170	0.90	3	MBA	S	32.24	10.00
10.		1167.4	0.80	2	MBA	C	5.34	15.09
11.	496 Gryphia	1072	1.25	3	Flora	S	15.47	11.61
12.	4524 Barklajdetolli	1069	1.26	2	Flora	S	7.14	12.90
13.	2675 Tolkien	1060	0.75	2+	Flora	S	9.85	12.20
14.		1007.7	0.86	2	MBA	S	1.54	16.43

Fastest rotators

This list contains the fastest-rotating minor planets with a period of less than 100 seconds, or 0.0277 hours. Bodies with a highly uncertain period, having a quality of less than 2, are highlighted in dark-grey. The fastest rotating bodies are all unnumbered near-Earth objects with a diameter of less than 100 meters .
Among the numbered minor planets with an unambiguous period solution are, a 60-meter sized stony NEO with a period of 352 seconds, as well as and, two main-belt asteroids, with a diameter of 0.86 and 2.25 kilometers and a period of 1.29 and 1.95 hours, respectively.

Orbital characteristics

Retrograde

Minor planets with orbital inclinations near or greater than 90° orbit in a retrograde direction., of the near-800,000 minor planets known, there are only 99 known retrograde minor planets. In comparison, there are over 2,000 comets with retrograde orbits. This makes retrograde minor planets the rarest group of all. High-inclination asteroids are either Mars-crossers or damocloids. Some of these are temporarily captured in retrograde resonance with the gas giants.

Minor planet designation	Inclination	First observed/ Discovery date	Condition code	Obs. × arc	Comment	Refs
	89.154°	March 8, 2010		40	Extremely high-inclined trans-Neptunian object.
		October 27, 2017	0	79254	—
		September 21, 2018		17407	—
		October 8, 2015	0	38805	—
		September 30, 2005	1	12200	Has a well-determined orbit
		June 29, 2014	6	96	—
		March 8, 2010		15	Most highly inclined known main-belt asteroid
		September 13, 2015	0	184680	—
		July 13, 2016	2	6075	—
		March 29, 2016	0	91561	—
		August 5, 2014	1	8085	—
		January 20, 2015		39	—
		July 26, 2017		8720	—
		May 9, 2014	0	95710	—
		April 16, 2013		220	—
		January 20, 2013		46716	Has a semi-major axis of 1254 AU, giving it the third largest semi-major axis of any known minor planet
		April 14, 2010	0	97888	—
	100.482°	June 24, 2011	0	364936	—
	101.295°	July 6, 2017	1	28014	—
	101.381°	December 8, 2014	0	23544	—
	101.828°	January 17, 2013		1400	—
	103.396°	May 31, 2008	1	198550	—
	105.058°	December 18, 2008	0	1608789	—
	105.113°	August 14, 2016	0	63879	—
	105.226°	April 6, 2010	0	9072	—
	106.883°	December 22, 2012	3	6674	—
	107.449°	February 27, 2009		1584	—
	108.218°	October 29, 2017		1638	—
	108.328°	November 12, 2007	5	2204	—
	109.074°	September 20, 2011	3	3654	—
471325 Taowu	110.104°	May 31, 2011	1	234828	—
	110.226°	October 5, 2005	5	1488	—
	110.504°	May 21, 2010		71808	—
	112.224°	November 1, 2005		4212	Semi-major axis of 837AU, but has a somewhat short 81-day observation arc for such a large orbit
	113.243°	September 17, 2017	4	2160	—
2016 LS	114.338°	June 27, 2015	0	26688	—
	118.243°	December 29, 2015	0	33454	—
	118.797°	July 28, 2010	2	3535	—
	118.970°	September 4, 2002	0	648554	This outer-planet crosser is a damocloid and SDO.
	121.179°	August 5, 2010	8	120	—
	123.886°	June 2, 2010	7	935	—
	125.356°	June 8, 2013	0	238336	—
	128.506°	September 29, 2014	4	1334	—
	129.246°	February 25, 2000	2	42408	A damocloid and SDO. Crosses all the outer planets except Neptune. Came within 0.03 AU of Ceres in 1930.
	129.820°	February 14, 2016	0	23800	—
	130.333°	July 5, 2013	0	143510	—
	130.505°	July 6, 2005	1	662673	—
	133.437°	September 1, 2006	4	750	Has an orbit with a data arc of 25 days
	136.049°	December 21, 2012	5	1066	—
	137.204°	January 2, 2017	3	1785	—
	137.668°	August 17, 2009	1	43990	—
	138.330°	October 9, 2016		704	—
	139.682°	December 23, 2016	1	50718	—
	139.758°	March 4, 2019		576	—
	139.934°	November 27, 2014	0	115821	—
	140.773°	July 1, 2010	0	330022	Perihelion at 9.4 AU, only has perihelion further out
	141.645°	November 24, 2011		108	—
	143.912°	January 25, 2010	1	35032	—
	143.914°	January 30, 2010		374596	Semi-major axis of 408 AU with perihelion at 6.1 AU in April 2012
	144.034°	November 1, 2012	0	227052	—
	144.203°	October 23, 2017		68442	—
	146.262°	February 15, 2010	0	129000	—
	146.883°	April 18, 2012	0	31408	—
	147.767°	December 17, 2009	0	195734	—
	148.419°	November 5, 2016	0	108624	—
	148.826°	August 16, 2017	1	45360	—
	150.148°	March 5, 2006	0	62310	q=2.58 AU and period=274 yr
	151.816°	June 12, 1999	2	905838	A damocloid, Jupiter- and Saturn-crossing minor planet.
	152.044°	September 19, 2017		7590	—
	152.136°	November 19, 2018	7	351	—
	152.326°	March 3, 2016	0	181965	—
	152.438°	February 2, 2017		51500	—
	154.367°	April 29, 2009	0	771834	NEO that sometimes has the highest relative velocity to Earth of known objects that come within 0.5 AU of Earth. However, the relative velocity at 1 AU from the sun is less than 72 km/s.
	154.736°	June 6, 2013	0	14148	—
	154.924°	October 11, 2021	3	2510	Retrograde trans-Neptunian object close to a 3:–2 mean-motion orbital resonance with Neptune.
	155.842°	March 20, 2015		748	—
	156.376°	March 12, 2010	4	2460	—
	157.514°	December 9, 2015	2	5580	—
	158.535°	April 29, 2000	2	25960	—
	159.092°	December 9, 2015	0	21120	—
	160.027°	October 9, 2012	3	900	—
2019 CR	160.341°	February 4, 2019	1	36993	—
20461 Dioretsa	160.428°	June 8, 1999	0	256779	most highly inclined known minor planet from June 8, 1999, to July 13, 2004
	160.475°	February 25, 2018	0	261726	—
	160.735°	May 4, 2017		6844	—
	161.695°	June 23, 2015	0	119280	—
514107 Kaʻepaokaʻāwela	163.022°	November 26, 2014	0	74898	A Jupiter co-orbital. First known example of a retrograde co-orbital asteroid with any of the planets. Might have an interstellar origin.
	164.601°	September 14, 2006	5	2849	—
	165.311°	January 23, 2006	0	207459	—
	165.525°	July 13, 2004		23944	Came within 0.80 AU of Saturn on 2007-Jun-05, most highly inclined known minor planet from 2004/07/13-2005/11/01
	165.558°	November 26, 2013	0	186598	—
	167.030°	February 28, 2016		26	—
	170.324°	September 30, 2008	0	1058616	—
	170.569°	October 26, 2014		34	—
	170.764°	February 10, 2014	4	1938	—
	170.919°	October 5, 2018	7	270	—
	170.988°	March 11, 2016	0	18081	—
	172.138°	June 3, 2006		48	Has a data arc of only 2 days, but has a very high inclination
(434620) 2005 VD	172.872°	November 1, 2005	0	228965	most highly inclined known minor planet from November 1, 2005, to June 1, 2013
	175.095°	June 1, 2013	6	1075	Has the highest inclination of any known minor planet

the value given when the number of observations is multiplied by the observation arc; larger values are generally better than smaller values depending on residuals.

Trojans

Earth trojans: and.
Mars trojans:, 5261 Eureka,,,,,, and the candidate.
Jupiter trojans: the first one was discovered in 1906, 588 Achilles, and the current total is over 15,000.

Viewed in detail

Spacecraft targets

Name	Diameter	Discovered	Spacecraft	Year	Closest approach	Closest approach	Notes	Landmark
	939.4		Dawn	2014–2018		0.80	Dawn took its first "close up" picture of Ceres in December 2014, and entered orbit in March 2015	First likely dwarf planet visited by a spacecraft, largest asteroid visited by a spacecraft
	525.4		Dawn	2011–2012	210	0.76	Dawn broke orbit on 5 September 2012 and headed to Ceres, where it arrived in March 2015	First "big four" asteroid visited by a spacecraft, largest asteroid visited by a spacecraft at the time
	120×100×80		Rosetta	2010		64.9	Flyby on 10 July 2010	Largest asteroid visited by a spacecraft at the time
	56×24×21		Galileo	1993		152	Flyby; discovered Dactyl	First asteroid with a moon visited by a spacecraft, largest asteroid visited by spacecraft at the time
	66×48×46		NEAR Shoemaker	1997		49.5	Flyby	Largest asteroid visited by a spacecraft at the time
	13×13×33		NEAR Shoemaker	1998–2001	0	0	1998 flyby; 2000 orbited ; 2001 landing	First asteroid landing, first asteroid orbited by a spacecraft, first near-Earth asteroid visited by a spacecraft
	18.2×10.5×8.9		Galileo	1991		262	Flyby	First asteroid visited by a spacecraft
	4.6		Rosetta	2008	800	302	Flyby	First asteroid visited by the ESA
	4.5×~2		Chang'e 2	2012		0.70	Flyby	Closest asteroid flyby, first asteroid visited by China
	4.0		Stardust	2002		1230	Flyby
	2.2×0.6		Deep Space 1	1999	26	12.7	Flyby; followed by flyby of Comet Borrelly
	0.5×0.3×0.2		Hayabusa	2005	0	0	Landed; returned dust samples to Earth	First asteroid with returned samples, smallest asteroid visited by a spacecraft, first asteroid visited by a non-NASA spacecraft
	1.0		Hayabusa2	2018–2019	0	0	Multiple landers/rovers, sample return	First rovers on an asteroid
	0.492		OSIRIS-REx	2018–2021	0	0	Sample return	Smallest asteroid orbited, potentially hazardous object
	0.492		DART/''LICIACube	2022		3.2	Impactor/flyby	Moon Dimorphos impacted by DART spacecraft, flown by LICIACube
	0.790		Lucy	2023	425	1076	Flyby; first of 8 planned asteroid flybys	Smallest main-belt asteroid visited to date; discovered first contact binary satellite Selam
	3.9		Lucy''	2025	960	240	Flyby; second of 8 planned asteroid flybys

Surface resolved by telescope or lightcurve

Multiple systems resolved by telescope

90 Antiope

Comet-like activity

Disintegration

Timeline

Numbered minor planets that are also comets

Name	Cometary name	Comment
2060 Chiron	95P/Chiron	First centaur discovered in 1977, later identified to exhibit cometary behaviour. Also one of two minor planets known to have a ring system
4015 Wilson–Harrington	107P/Wilson–Harrington	In 1992, it was realized that asteroid 1979 VA's orbit matched it with the positions of the lost comet Wilson–Harrington
7968 Elst–Pizarro	133P/Elst–Pizarro	Discovered in 1996 as a comet, but orbitally matched to asteroid
60558 Echeclus	174P/Echeclus	Centaur discovered in 2000, comet designation assigned in 2006
118401 LINEAR	176P/LINEAR	Main-belt comet–asteroid discovered to have a coma on November 26, 2005

The above table lists only numbered asteroids that are also comets. Note there are several cases where a non-numbered minor planets turned out to be a comet, e.g. C/2001 OG108 (LONEOS), which was provisionally designated.

Minor planets that were misnamed and renamed

In earlier times, before the modern numbering and naming rules were in effect, asteroids were sometimes given numbers and names before their orbits were precisely known. And in a few cases duplicate names were given to the same object. This led to a few cases where asteroids had to be renamed.

Minor planet name	Description
330 Adalberta	An object discovered March 18, 1892, by Max Wolf with provisional designation "1892 X" was named 330 Adalberta, but was lost and never recovered. In 1982 it was determined that the observations leading to the designation of 1892 X were stars, and the object never existed. The name and number 330 Adalberta was then reused for another asteroid discovered by Max Wolf on February 2, 1910, which had the provisional designation A910 CB.
525 Adelaide and 1171 Rusthawelia	The object A904 EB discovered March 14, 1904, by Max Wolf was named 525 Adelaide and was subsequently lost. Later, the object 1930 TA discovered October 3, 1930, by Sylvain Arend was named 1171 Rusthawelia. In those pre-computer days, it was not realized until 1958 that these were one and the same object. The name Rusthawelia was kept ; the name 525 Adelaide was reused for the object 1908 EKa discovered October 21, 1908, by Joel Hastings Metcalf.
715 Transvaalia and 933 Susi	The object 1911 LX discovered April 22, 1911, by H. E. Wood was named 715 Transvaalia. On April 23, 1920, the object 1920 GZ was discovered and named 933 Susi. In 1928 it was realized that these were one and the same object. The name Transvaalia was kept, and the name and number 933 Susi was reused for the object 1927 CH discovered February 10, 1927, by Karl Reinmuth.
864 Aase and 1078 Mentha	The object A917 CB discovered February 13, 1917, by Max Wolf was named 864 Aase, and the object 1926 XB discovered December 7, 1926, by Karl Reinmuth was named 1078 Mentha. In 1958 it was discovered that these were one and the same object. In 1974, this was resolved by keeping the name 1078 Mentha and reusing the name and number 864 Aase for the object 1921 KE, discovered September 30, 1921, by Karl Reinmuth.
1095 Tulipa and 1449 Virtanen	The object 1928 DC discovered February 24, 1928, by Karl Reinmuth was named 1095 Tulipa, and the object 1938 DO discovered February 20, 1938, by Yrjö Väisälä was named 1449 Virtanen. In 1966 it was discovered that these were one and the same object. The name 1449 Virtanen was kept and the name and number 1095 Tulipa was reused for the object 1926 GS discovered April 14, 1926, by Karl Reinmuth.
1125 China and 3789 Zhongguo	The object 1928 UF discovered October 25, 1928, by Zhang Yuzhe was named 1125 China, and was later lost. Later, the object was discovered on October 30, 1957, at Purple Mountain Observatory and was initially incorrectly believed to be the rediscovery of the object 1928 UF. The name and number 1125 China were then reused for the object, and 1928 UF remained lost. In 1986, the object was discovered and proved to be the real rediscovery of 1928 UF. This object was given the new number and name 3789 Zhongguo. Note Zhongguo is the Mandarin Chinese word for "China", in pinyin transliteration.
Asteroid 1317 and 787 Moskva	The object 1914 UQ discovered April 20, 1914, by G. N. Neujmin was named 787 Moskva. The object 1934 FD discovered on March 19, 1934, by C. Jackson was given the sequence number 1317. In 1938, G. N. Neujmin found that asteroid 1317 and 787 Moskva were one and the same object. The sequence number 1317 was later reused for the object 1935 RC discovered on September 1, 1935, by Karl Reinmuth; that object is now known as 1317 Silvretta.

Landmark names

Asteroids were originally named after female mythological figures. Over time the rules loosened.
First asteroid with non-Classical and non-Latinized name: 64 Angelina
First asteroid with a non-feminine name: 139 Juewa or 141 Lumen
First asteroid with a non-feminized man's name: 433 Eros
Lowest-numbered unnamed asteroid :

Landmark numbers

Many landmark numbers had specially chosen names for asteroids, and there was some debate about whether Pluto should have received number 10000, for example. This list includes some non-asteroids.

Books

Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, 5th ed.: Prepared on Behalf of Commission 20 Under the Auspices of the International Astronomical Union, Lutz D. Schmadel,