AMars-crossing asteroid (MCA, alsoMars-crosser,MC) is anasteroid whoseorbit crosses that ofMars. Some Mars-crossersnumbered below 100000 are listed here. They include the two numberedMars trojans5261 Eureka and(101429) 1998 VF31.
Many databases, for instance theJPL Small-Body Database (JPL SBDB), only list asteroids with aperihelion greater than 1.3AU as Mars-crossers. An asteroid with a perihelion less than this is classed as anear-Earth object even though it is crossing the orbit of Mars as well as crossing (or coming near to) that of Earth. Nevertheless, these objects are listed on this page. A grazer is an object with a perihelion below the aphelion of Mars (1.67 AU) but above the Martian perihelion (1.38 AU).[1] The JPL SBDB lists 13,500 Mars-crossing asteroids. Only 18 MCAs are brighter thanabsolute magnitude (H) 12.5,[2] which typically makes these asteroids with H<12.5 more than 13 km in diameter depending on thealbedo. The smallest known MCAs have an absolute magnitude (H) of around 24 and are typically less than 100 meters in diameter. There are over 21,600 known Mars-crossers[3] of which only 5751 have received a MPC number.
Earth having more gravity and surface area than Mars attracts more impactors than Mars. Earth isimpacted about 20 times more than the Moon,[4] and Mars only gets impacted about 3 to 5 times more than theMoon.[5]
L4 (leading cloud):
L5 (trailing cloud):
Candidates
These objects are not catalogued as Mars-crossers in databases such as theJet Propulsion Laboratory's onlineSmall-body Database Browser. Instead, they are categorized asNear Earth Objects (NEOs).
