4486 Mithra is an Apollo

Apollo asteroid

The Apollo asteroids are a group of near-Earth asteroids named after 1862 Apollo, the first asteroid of this group to be discovered by Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth...

 and Mars-crosser asteroid

Mars-crosser asteroid

A Mars-crosser is an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars. The known numbered Mars-crossers are listed here. They include the two numbered Mars trojans 5261 Eureka and ....

. It was discovered by Eric Elst

Eric Walter Elst

Eric Walter Elst is a Belgian astronomer and a prolific discoverer of asteroids, with over 3,000 discovered so far ....

 and Vladimir Shkodrov

Vladimir Shkodrov

Prof. Dr. Vladimir Georgiev Shkodrov was a Bulgarian astronomer.Shkodrov discovered a number of asteroids, including the Apollo asteroid 4486 Mithra, which he and Eric Elst discovered on 22 September 1987. 4486 Mithra is notable as the most highly bifurcated object in the Solar System...

 on September 22, 1987. It is named after Mithra

Mithra

Mithra is the Zoroastrian divinity of covenant and oath. In addition to being the divinity of contracts, Mithra is also a judicial figure, an all-seeing protector of Truth, and the guardian of cattle, the harvest and of The Waters....

, Indo-Iranian god of light. In Asia Minor around 330 B.C. the god Mithra was identified with the Greek god Apollo

Apollo

Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...

, hence the name.

In 2000 it made a very close approach to Earth, passing 6.96 million km, or 0.47 au from it.

The asteroid

Asteroid

Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...

 measures 2–5 km in diameter. Its shape has been analyzed by radar

Radar

Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...

, and has been revealed as bizarre: it is the most highly bifurcated object in the solar system

Solar System

The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...

, with two distinct lobes.