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Near-Earth objects
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Any small body of the Sol system whose closest approach to the Sun falls inside 1.3 times the Sun to Earth distance.
Astronomers class a small body of the Sol system as a near-Earth object when its closest approach to the Sun falls inside 1.3 times the distance from the Sun to Earth. Most of them are asteroids, and about a third of a percent are comets. One that crosses Earth's orbit and runs wider than about 140 meters is further classed as a potentially hazardous object. The label follows the orbit rather than the position, so a body counts as near-Earth even at times when it is nowhere near Earth.
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