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By NASA // July 14, 2018
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Each asteroid has a height of about 3000 feet
ABOVE THE VIDEO: Three of the world's largest radio telescopes team up to show a rare double asteroid. 2017 YE5 is only the fourth binary asteroid near the Earth ever observed in which both bodies are about the same size and do not touch each other.
(NASA) – New observations by three of the largest radio telescopes in the world have revealed that an asteroid discovered last year is actually two objects, each about 900 meters long, orbiting around on the other side
Near-Earth asteroid 2017 YE5 was discovered with observations provided by the Morocco Oukaimeden Sky Survey on December 21, 2017, but no detail on the physical properties of the asteroid n 39 was known until the end of June
This is the fourth near-Earth asteroid "equal mass" never detected, consisting of two almost identical objects, in orbit. The new observations provide the most detailed images ever obtained from this type of binary asteroid.
On June 21, the 2017 YE5 asteroid made its closest approach to Earth for at least the next 170 years. On 21 and 22 June, observations of NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar (GSSR) in California showed early signs that 2017 YE5 could be a binary. system. The observations revealed two distinct lobes, but the orientation of the asteroid was such that scientists could not see if the two bodies were separated or joined. Eventually, the two objects rotated to expose a separate space between them
Scientists from the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico had already planned to observe 2017 YE5, and they were alerted by their colleagues of Goldstone unique properties of the asteroid. ] The concept of the artist of what the 2017 YE5 binary asteroid could look like. Both objects had striking differences in radar reflectivity, which could indicate that they have different surface properties. (Image by NASA)
On June 24, scientists teamed up with researchers from the Green Bank Observatory (GBO) in West Virginia and used the two observatories together in a bi-static radar configuration (in which Arecibo transmits the radar signal and Green Bank receives the feedback signal). Together, they were able to confirm that 2017 YE5 consists of two separate objects
On June 26, Goldstone and Arecibo had both independently confirmed the binary nature of the asteroid.
New observations obtained between June 21st and June 26th indicate that two objects are spinning around each other every 20 to 24 hours. This was confirmed by observations of visible light changes in brightness by Brian Warner at the Solar System Studies Center in Rancho Cucamonga, California
The radar imaging shows that both objects are larger that their brightness two rocks do not reflect as much sunlight as a typical rocky asteroid. Goldstone's images taken on June 21 also show a striking difference in the radar reflectivity of the two objects, a phenomenon that we had not seen before among more than 50 other binary asteroid systems studied by radar since June 21st. 2000. (However, the majority of these binary asteroids are composed of a large object and a much smaller satellite.)
Artist's illustration of the trajectory of the l & # 39; asteroid 2017 YE5 through the solar system. At its closest approach to Earth, the asteroid arrived at 16 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon. (19659022) The reflectivity differences also appear in the Arecibo images and suggest that the two objects may have different densities, compositions near their surfaces or different surface asperities. more than 200 meters (650 feet), about 15% are binaries with a larger object and a much smaller satellite.
Even-mass binaries like YE5 2017 are much rarer. Contact binaries, in which two objects of similar size are in contact, constitute 15% of Earth-like asteroids larger than 200 meters (650 feet).
The discovery of the 2017 YE5 binary nature provides scientists with an important opportunity to improve understanding of different types of binaries and to study the training mechanisms between binaries and contact binaries, that can be linked.
The analysis of combined radar and optical observations can enable scientists to estimate the densities of 2017 YE5 Objects, which will improve the understanding of their composition and internal structure, and of the way they formed.
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