2014 Event Japan launches an explorer that will take samples and collect data from the surface of an asteroid; the six-year trip will include eighteen months of study and data collection 2014 Event Water vapor on the minor planet Ceres, the largest asteroid and the only dwarf planet in the inner Solar System, is detected by European Space Agency researchers 2013 Event NASA discovers Asteroid 2013 TV135, which has a 1 in 63,000 chance of colliding with the earth in 2032 2013 Event The 1998 QE2, an asteroid measuring nearly 1.7 miles across, and its moon, pass within 3.6 million miles of the earth 2013 Event A near-Earth asteroid, 2012 DA14, comes within 17,200 miles of the Earth's surface, a record-close approach for an object estimated at 50 meters, or 160 ft in in diameter 2013 Event A near-earth asteroid, called 99942 Apophis, passes close to Earth; astronomers in Europe estimate 99942 Apophis is larger than previously thought 2012 Event An asteroid named 4179 Toutatis, over 3 miles wide, passes within 4.3 million miles, or 18 lunar distances from Earth 2011 Event Astronomers identify a Trojan asteroid orbiting on the same path as the Earth around the Sun; it poses to danger to Earth because it sits in a gravitational 'sweet spot' 2001 Event Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft becomes first vehicle to land on an asteroid (433 Eros) 1826 Death Giuseppe Piazzi, monk, mathematician and discoverer, found 1st asteroid, dies at 80 1801 Event Giuseppe Piazzi discovers 1st asteroid, which is named Ceres later 1746 Birthday Giuseppe Piazzi, Italian monk, mathematician, and discoverer, discovers 1st asteroid, Ceres
