1862 Apollo

It is the namesake and the first recognized member of the Apollo asteroids, a subgroup of NEOs which are Earth-crossers, that is, they cross the orbit of the Earth when viewed perpendicularly to the ecliptic plane (crossing an orbit is a more general term than actually intersecting it). In addition, since Apollo's orbit is highly eccentric, it crosses the orbits of Venus and Mars and is therefore called a Venus-crosser and Mars-crosser as well.

Although Apollo was the first Apollo asteroid to be discovered, its official IAU-number (1862) is higher than that of some other Apollo asteroids such as 1566 Icarus, because it was a lost asteroid for more than 40 years and other bodies were numbered in the meantime. The analysis of its rotation provided observational evidence of the YORP effect.

It is named after the Greek god Apollo, god of prophecy, music, healing and light, child of Zeus and Leto, after which the minor planets 5731 Zeus and 68 Leto are respectively named.

Satellite

On 4 November 2005, it was announced that an asteroid moon, or satellite of Apollo, had been detected by radar observations from Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico, on 19 October – 2 November 2005. The announcement is contained in the International Astronomical Union Circular (IAUC) 8627. The satellite is only 80 m (260 ft) across and orbits Apollo just 3 km (1.9 mi) away from the asteroid itself. From the surface of Apollo, the satellite would have an angular diameter of about 2.1 degrees.