A

David

Darling

Earth-crossing asteroid

Of the orbits of asteroids shown (red), only the one at the lower right is that of an Earth-crosser because it crosses Earth's orbit (yellow) from inside to outside.

Of the orbits of asteroids shown (red), only the one at the lower right is that of an Earth-crosser because it crosses Earth's orbit (yellow) from inside to outside.


An Earth-crossing asteroid is an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Earth. Included in this category are Apollo asteroids and Aten asteroids.