Key facts
- Discovered by
- C. Kowal
- Discovery site
- Palomar Obs.
- Discovery date
- 6 March 1973
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ m aɪ d ə s /
- Named after
- Midās (Greek mythology)
- Alternative designations
- 1973 EA
- Minor planet category
- Apollo NEO PHA Venus-crosser Mars-crosser
- Observation arc
- 41.97 yr (15,330 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.9307 AU
- Perihelion
- 0.6212 AU
- Semi major axis
- 1.7759 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 2.37 yr (864 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 256.48 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 24 59.4 / day
- Inclination
- 39.833°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 356.90°
- Argument of perihelion
- 267.80°
- Earth moid
- 0.0045 AU (1.8 LD )
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- near-Earth asteroid
- Named after
- Midas
- Followed by
- 1982 Cline
- Follows
- 1980 Tezcatlipoca
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- 3.4
- Orbital period
- 864.6940102926742
Show 18 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Charles T. Kowal
- site of astronomical discovery
- Palomar Observatory
- provisional designation
- 1973 EA
- time of discovery or invention
- 1973-03-06
- orbital inclination
- 39.82338344237591
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.6504955479969629
- periapsis
- 0.6208147993756601
- apoapsis
- 2.931728212982107
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 1.776271506178883
- mean anomaly
- 65.3475410784993
- longitude of ascending node
- 356.7939163392253
- argument of periapsis
- 267.8442371586622
- absolute magnitude
- 15.25
- Commons category
- 1981 Midas
- rotation period
- 5.22
- asteroid spectral type
- V-type asteroid
- time of periapsis
- 2460843.5399240055
- epoch
- November 21, 2025
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
1981 Midas, provisional designation 1973 EA, is a vestoid asteroid, classified as a near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid, approximately 2 kilometers in diameter.
It was discovered on 6 March 1973 by American astronomer Charles Kowal at Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California. It was named after King Midas from Greek mythology.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “1981 Midas” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.