A near-Earth object is one whose orbit brings it away from Earth.
The Aten asteroids are a group of asteroids , whose orbit brings them into proximity with Earth . Aten asteroids are defined by having a semi-major axis of less than one astronomical unit ( AU ) , the ( roughly ) average distance from the Earth to the Sun . A near-Earth object ( NEO ) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth . NEAs have orbits that lie partly between 0.983 and 1.3 AU away from the Sun .