4660 Nereus
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4660 Nereus is a small (1 km in diameter) asteroid, discovered by Eleanor F. Helin on February 28, 1982. It is named after Nereus, a Titan in Greek mythology.
Nereus is potentially a very important asteroid. It is an Apollo and Mars-crosser asteroid, with an orbit that frequently comes very close to Earth, and because of this it is exceptionally accessible to spacecraft. Indeed, because of its small size, its delta-V for rendezvous is smaller than the Moon's.
Nereus was scheduled for visitation by both the private Near Earth Asteroid Prospector probe, and the Japanese Hayabusa probe. However, the former project is defunct, and Hayabusa's delay in launching caused it to be redirected to 25143 Itokawa. Nonetheless, Nereus may well become important in future space exploration.
Nereus has been imaged by radar, which reveals a slightly elongated shape.
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| (For other objects and regions, see: Binary asteroids, Asteroid moons and the Solar system) |
| (For a complete listing, see: List of asteroids. For pronunciation, see: Pronunciation of asteroid names.) |