Astronomers have discovered rare double asteroid
NASA announced the discovery of a very rare object in the Solar system: a double asteroid. This is the website of the organization.
In fact, the object 2017YE5 opened in 2017, as follows from its designation. It was discovered during a sky survey called the Morocco Oukaimeden Sky Survey. But only after six months was able to establish the nature of the object.
On June 21 he approached the Ground at maximum distance (at least for the next 170 years) — six million kilometers. Then, astronomers and explored it with three telescopes, among them the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico.
They closely rotate around the center of mass, but not touching.
Reportedly, 2017YE5 is only the fourth double object of known near-earth asteroids c parts more or less the same mass. Attracts astronomers and unique phenomenon: among 50 binary asteroids studied the radar method with 2000 years, 2017YE5 first, which components of the body have very different reflectivity for the radar ability of the surface. To clearly explain this phenomenon, astronomers can’t yet.
See also:
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