LINEAR

Amors, Apollos, Atens, and Atiras*: four categories of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs)

Amor asteroids approach but do not cross the Earth's orbit from the outside; Apollo asteroids cross the Earth’s orbit, but are typically outside the Earth’s orbit; Aten asteroids cross the Earth’s orbit, but are typically inside the Earth’s orbit; and Atira asteroids approach but do not cross the Earth’s orbit from the inside. 

*The first Atira asteroid (163693) was discovered by LINEAR.

Potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) are larger than ~0.2 km (0.1 mile) and approach close enough to present a potential hazard but are not a current hazard.

Skyplots

The LINEAR skyplots represent areas of the sky in which LINEAR performed asteroid search and follow-up observing during the indicated monthly lunar dark period. In each plot, each box represents a field that was searched for asteroids. Each field is revisited several times during the course of a night with a single image frame collected on each revisit. At the end of the night, the resulting frame set is processed to detect moving asteroids.

Skyplots for monthly lunar dark periods:

• 2011 skyplots
• 2010 skyplots
• 2009 skyplots
• 2008 skyplots
• 2007 skyplots
• 2006 skyplots
• 2005 skyplots
• 2004 skyplots
• 2003 skyplots
• 2002 skyplots
• 2001 skyplots
• 2000 skyplots
• 1999 skyplots
• 1998 skyplots

Skyplots for calendar years:

• Skyplot for calendar year 2011 - coming soon
• Skyplot for calendar year 2010
• Skyplot for calendar year 2009
• Skyplot for calendar year 2008
• Skyplot for calendar year 2007
• Skyplot for calendar year 2006
• Skyplot for calendar year 2005
• Skyplot for calendar year 2004
• Skyplot for calendar year 2003
• Skyplot for calendar year 2002
• Skyplot for calendar year 2001
• Skyplot for calendar year 2000
  

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