(4660) Nereus

Template: Infobox Asteroid / Maintenance / Error 1

( 4660 ) Nereus is a near-Earth asteroid ( asteroid ) from the Apollo - type.

The asteroid was discovered on February 28, 1982 by Eleanor F. Helin at the Palomar Observatory and was named after Nereus, a Titan and sea god of Greek mythology.

Nereus moves between 0.95 AU ( perihelion ) and 2.02 AU ( aphelion ) in around 1.8 years of the sun. The orbital eccentricity of its 1.4 ° inclined to the ecliptic orbit is 0.36.

The asteroid rotates in 15.1 hours on its axis, the albedo of the surface is about 0.55 and its diameter is estimated to be about 330 m.

Nereus is an attractive object for space missions, since it can be achieved with a relatively small expenditure of energy (delta v). For this reason, he was the original aim of Hayabusa mission, whose launch was planned for the year 2002. Due to a false start of My- V launch vehicle in February 2000, the launch of the spacecraft but had shifted and a new target ( 25143 ) Itokawa be selected. Furthermore, Nereus should also be a possible target of the now painted spacecraft Near Earth Asteroid Prospector.