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The description of an asteroid 2017 YE5 artist, which scientists have discovered is actually two separate pieces of rock.
Source: NASA / JPL-Caltech
This is the realization that hit astronomers in June after they started studying a near-Earth asteroid called 2017 YE5, which the NASA announced today (July 12) is actually two asteroids, a pair of objects in orbit.
The bouncing asteroids were revealed by three radar telescopes, which fire a beam of radio waves on nearby asteroids and wait for the reflection to return to Earth. Astronomers can use these received signals to paint an image of the form of an asteroid. In this case, it meant discovering that what looked like two lobes of a rock are actually two separate rocks, which overlap every 20 to 24 hours
This is a particularly exciting surprise because the two pieces of 2017 YE5 are almost identical size, each of about 900 meters (3,000 feet) in diameter. Until now, scientists have spotted only three other pairs paired well. Most binary asteroids are unequal, one reducing the other half.
bouncing radio-wave beams onto asteroids, to understand the form of 2017 YE5.
Credit: Arecibo / GBO / NSF / NASA / JPL-Caltech
The new observations of 2017 YE5 showed another catchy result: the pair are not identical twins. A half of the binary seems to be a lot darker than the other, suggesting that they are made of different things, or may have extremely different textures.
But scientists may have plenty of time to reveal other secrets. the pair. The new observations took advantage of the closest approach of the asteroid to Earth, when it flew at about 3.7 million miles (6 million kilometers). It will take more than 170 years before the binary asteroid is so close.
Send an email to Meghan Bartels at [email protected] or follow her @meghanbartels . Follow us @Spacedotcom Facebook and Google+ . Original article on Space.com .
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