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The fastest asteroid in the solar system was discovered at NOIRLab’s CTIO using the powerful … [+]
CTIO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. da Silv
The Sun’s new closest neighbor has been revealed.
Astronomers using a new telescope in Chile have found the fastest orbiting asteroid so far – and it’s getting closer to the Sun than even the planet Mercury.
Although its orbit of the Sun is, at 113 days, longer than the 88 days of Mercury, asteroid 2021 PH27 has an elliptical and steeply inclined orbit that intersects the orbits of Venus and Mercury.
2021 PH27 is about one kilometer in diameter and is located within 20 million kilometers of the Sun, where it reaches nearly 900 degrees F / 500 degrees C. It’s hot enough to melt lead.
The fastest orbital period asteroid in the solar system was discovered at NOIRLab’s CTIO using … [+]
CTIO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. da Silv
2021 PH27 has in fact just passed behind the Sun and will not be visible until early 2022. Further observations are planned by then to determine its precise orbit, which will allow it to be officially named.
The 2021 PH27 discovery is important because it will help astronomers determine which asteroids could one day impact Earth.
“Understanding the asteroid population within Earth’s orbit is important to complete the census of near-Earth asteroids, including some of the more likely Earth impactors that may approach Earth during the day and that cannot be easily discovered in most surveys that observe at night, away from the Sun, ”said Scott S. Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution of Science.
Sheppard found 2021 PH27 in twilight footage taken by Ian Dell’Antonio and Shenming Fu of Brown University. They used the 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the 4-meter Víctor M. Blanco telescope at NOIRLab’s Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile.
4-meter Víctor M. Blanco telescope at the Inter-American Observatory of Cerro Tololo (CTIO), a program … [+]
CTIO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / R. Sparks
The origin of 2021 PH27 is a mystery, but there are theories. “Most likely 2021 PH27 has been dislodged from the main asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars and the gravity of the inner planets has shaped its orbit in its current configuration,” Sheppard said.
“Although, based on its large tilt angle of 32 degrees, it is possible that 2021 PH27 was an extinct comet from the Outer Solar System that ventured too close to one of the planets as the trajectory of her journey brought her closer to the inner solar system, ”Sheppard said.
So what future for 2021 PH27? It’s not clear, but astronomers suspect it will likely be destroyed in a collision with Mercury, Venus, or the Sun, but maybe not for millions of years.
I wish you clear skies and big eyes.
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