A-type asteroids are relatively uncommon inner-belt asteroids that have a strong, broad 1 μm olivine feature and a very reddish spectrum shortwards of 0.7μm. They are thought to come from the completely differentiated mantle of an asteroid, and appear to have a high density. One survey found that 7 similar A-, V- and X-type asteroids had an average density of . A-type asteroids were once thought to be rare, but a 2026 study of data from the Gaia spacecraft showed that they were quite common among members of the Flora and Vesta asteroid families, with an overall abundance among all main belt asteroids of about 2%, significantly higher than earlier estimates.

List

As of August 2024, 17 A-type asteroids had been discovered:

See also

• Asteroid spectral types

References

External links

• Mineralogic and Temperature-Induced Spectral Investigations of A-type Asteroids: (246) Asporina and (446) Aeternitas, V. Reddy, Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVI (2005)