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The NASA announced that new observations from three of the largest radio telescopes in the world have let us know that one asteroid discovered last year is, in fact, of double nature and is composed by two celestial bodies of 900 meters each which are in orbit each other.
The 2017 YE5 asteroid, which was discovered on December 21 thanks to observations provided by the Celestial Study of Oukaimeden Morocco, is considered a near body of the earth. No details on the physical properties of the asteroid were known until the end of last month.
This is the fourth double asteroid of these dimensions found near the Earth formed of two almost identical-sized objects, making it a "one-size-fits-all". rare notice 'space', since, as a rule, one of the two bodies has a substantially larger size. Its orbit takes about 20 to 24 hours to complete. At the end of June 2017 YE5 reached the closest point of approach to our planet, which allowed the scientific community to notice its binary structure.
With its combined optical brightness, it is known that two objects are larger than previously thought, indicating that bodies do not reflect as much sunlight as a typical rock asteroid . In addition, it is believed that the objects could have a different density and composition near their surfaces, as well as a different surface roughness.
The Discovery of the Binary Nature of 2017 YE5 provides an excellent opportunity for scientists to better understand the different types of existing binary asteroids and to study the mechanisms of formation of this type of double mass asteroids is almost identical.
(Source: RT in Spanish)
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