Hermes

Hermes, binary asteroid whose eccentric orbit takes it near Earth. It was discovered on October 28, 1937, by German astronomer Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth when it approached within about 742,000 km (461,000 miles) of Earth, about twice the distance of the Moon; because of its fast motion across the sky, it was named Hermes, after the ancient Greek messenger of the Olympian gods. Because Reinmuth was able to observe Hermes for only five days, too short a period to allow a reliable orbit to be calculated, it was lost and was not observed again until it was rediscovered on October 15, 2003. Radar observations of Hermes obtained less than a week following its rediscovery showed that it was actually two asteroids that orbit each other every 14 hours. The asteroids are 630 and 560 metres (2,070 and 1,840 feet) in diameter. Hermes’s next close approach to Earth will be on April 25, 2040, when it will pass within 4.2 million km (2.6 million miles).