Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The asteroid 1981 Midas was discovered on March 6, 1973 by Charles T. Kowal at Palomar Observatory. It is named after Midas, the king of Phrygia in Greek mythology who turned objects to gold when he touched them. Midas is an Apollo asteroid, a Venus and Mars-crosser asteroid with an orbital period of 2 years, 134 days. Its last close approach to Earth was in March 1992, passing at 19.9 Gm. The next close approach will be in March 2018 coming within a distance of 13.4 Gm and shining at an apparent magnitude of +12.3.