Pallas) is the second asteroid to have been discovered (after Ceres), and is one of the largest asteroids in

the Solar System. With an estimated 7% of the mass of the asteroid belt, it is the third-most-massive
asteroid, being 10–30% less massive than Vesta.[19] It is 512 kilometers (318 mi) in diameter, somewhat
smaller than 4 Vesta.

Vesta, second largest—and the brightest—asteroid of the asteroid belt and the fourth such object to be
discovered, by the German astronomer and physician Wilhelm Olbers on March 29, 1807. It is named for
the ancient RVesta revolves around the Sun once in 3.63 years in a nearly circular moderately inclined
(7.1°) orbit at a mean distance of 2.36 astronomical units (AU; about 353 million km [219 million miles]).
It has an ellipsoidal shape with radial dimensions of 286 × 279 × 223 km (178 × 173 × 139 miles),
equivalent to a sphere with a diameter of 526 km (327 miles)—i.e., about 15 percent of the diameter of
Earth’s Moon. Although Vesta is only about half the size of the largest asteroid, the dwarf planet Ceres,
it is about four times as reflective (Vesta’s albedo, averaged over its rotation, is 0.40, compared with
0.10 for Ceres), and it orbits closer (Ceres’s mean distance is 2.77 AU). Vesta is the only main-belt
asteroid visible to the unaided eye. Its mass is about 2.6 × 1020 kg, and its density is 3.46 grams per
cubic cm (about the same as that of the Moon). It rotates once in 5.3 hours.

Geographos was discovered on September 14, 1951, by American astronomers Albert Wilson and
Rudolf Minkowski at the Palomar Observatory. Geographos revolves around the Sun once in 1.39 Earth
years in an eccentric moderately inclined (13.3°) orbit at a mean distance of 1.25 astronomical units (AU;
about 187 million km [116 million miles]). Geographos rotates once in 5.2 hours. Compositionally, the
asteroid’s surface resembles the stony iron meteorites. In 1994 radarobservations found that
Geographos has dimensions of 5.11 × 1.85 km (3.18 × 1.15 miles). That same year the U.S.
spacecraft Clementine was scheduled to fly by Geographos after leaving lunar orbit, but a computer
malfunction

Icarus orbits the Sun at a distance of 0.2–2.0 AU once every 1 years and 1 month (409 days). Its orbit
has an eccentricity of 0.83 and an inclination of 23° with respect to the ecliptic.[1] The body's observation
arc begins with its official discovery observation at Palomar. Icarus comes closer to
the Sun than Mercury, i.e. it is a Mercury-crossing asteroid. It is also a Venus and Mars-crosser. From
1949 until the discovery of 3200 Phaethon in 1983, it was known as the asteroid that passed closest to
the Sun. Since then hundreds of Mercury-crossers have been found, the closest ones are now
being 2005 HC4 and (394130) 2006 HY51 (also see List of Mercury-crossing minor planets § List).