Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes ProCon History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture Money Videos
Hermes
Table of Contents
Introduction References & Edit History Related Topics
Related Questions
Read Next
Background: abstract bubble planets with clouds. astrology, astronomy, atomosphere, big bang, bubbles, fantasy, future, galaxy, universe, stars
9 Ghostly Planets
Solar system illustration. (planets; sun)
Why Are Planets Round?
Aphrodite. Greek mythology. Sculpture. Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love and beauty.
12 Greek Gods and Goddesses
Specially designed Cassini orbits place Earth and Cassini on opposite sides of Saturn's rings, a geometry known as occultation. Cassini conducted the first radio occultation observation of Saturn's rings on May 3, 2005. (solar system, planets)
10 Places to Visit in the Solar System
Remarkable new details of Pluto's largest moon Charon are revealed in this image from New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), taken late on July 13, 2015 from a distance of 289,000 miles
Why Is Pluto No Longer a Planet?
Discover
Thanksgiving Turkey with all the sides
Why Do We Eat Turkey on Thanksgiving?
Woman tied to a ducking stool, a method of punishment by means of humiliation, beating, or death. (cucking stool)
8 Unusual Punishments Inflicted on Women Throughout History
A Factory Interior, watercolor, pen and gray ink, graphite, and white goache on wove paper by unknown artist, c. 1871-91; in the Yale Center for British Art. Industrial Revolution England
Inventors and Inventions of the Industrial Revolution
An ancient egyptian hieroglyphic painted carving showing the falcon headed god Horus seated on a throne and holding a golden fly whisk. Before him are the Pharoah Seti and the goddess Isis. Interior wall of the temple to Osiris at Abydos, Egypt.
11 Egyptian Gods and Goddesses
Iraqi Army Soldiers from the 9th Mechanized Division learning to operate and maintain M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks at Besmaya Combat Training Center, Baghdad, Iraq, 2011. Military training. Iraq war. U.S. Army
8 Deadliest Wars of the 21st Century
Rural Irish landscape, Sligo, Ireland.
Why Is Ireland Two Countries?
The Cheshire Cat is a fictional cat from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. (Alice in Wonderland)
11 Banned Books Through Time

Hermes

binary asteroid
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites
Written and fact-checked by
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Article History

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).

This article was most recently revised and updated by Erik Gregersen.