Every asteroid discovered since 1980 — animated timeline

Every asteroid discovered since 1980 — animated timeline:

From I Heart Chaos:

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

View of the solar system showing the locations of all asteroids starting in 1980. As asteroids are discovered they are added to the map and highlighted white so you can pick out the new ones. The final color of an asteroid indicates how close it comes to the inner solar system.

• Earth orbit crossers are red

• Earth orbit approachers (perihelion less than 1.3AU) are yellow

• All others are green

Notice now the pattern of discovery follows the Earth around its orbit, such that most discoveries are made in the region directly opposite the Sun. You’ll also notice some clusters of discoveries on the line between Earth and Jupiter, these are the result of surveys looking for Jovian moons.

As the video moves into the mid 1990s we see much higher discovery rates as automated sky scanning systems come online. Most of the surveys are imaging the sky directly opposite the sun and you’ll see a region of high discovery rates aligned in this manner.

At the beginning of 2010 a new discovery pattern becomes evident, with discovery zones in a line perpendicular to the Sun-Earth vector. These new observations are the result of the WISE (Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer), which is a space mission tasked with imaging the entire sky in infrared wavelengths.