Stunning radar images of the near-Earth asteroid 2011 AG5 were obtained from January 29 to February 4, 2022, by the powerful 70-m (230-foot) Goldstone Solar System Radar antenna dish at the Deep Space Network’s facility near Barstow, California.
This collage shows six planetary radar observations of 2011 AG5 a day after the asteroid made its close approach to Earth on February 3, 2022. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.
2011 AG5 was discovered on January 8, 2011 by astronomers using a 1.52-m (5-foot) reflecting telescope as part of the Mount Lemmon Survey.
It is classified as a near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group.
2011 AG5 is about 500 m (1,600 feet) long and about 150 m (500 feet) wide.
On February 4, 2022, the object wide safely flew past Earth at a distance of about 1.8 million km (1.1 million miles) from our planet.
“Of the 1,040 near-Earth objects observed by planetary radar to date, this is one of the most elongated we’ve seen,” said Dr. Lance Benner, a principal scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“The Goldstone radar observations took place from January 29 to February 4, 2022, capturing several other details.”
“Along with a large, broad concavity in one of the asteroid’s two hemispheres, 2011 AG5 has subtle dark and lighter regions that may indicate small-scale surface features a few dozen meters across.”
“And if the asteroid were viewed by the human eye, it would appear as dark as charcoal.”
“The observations also confirmed 2011 AG5 has a slow rotation rate, taking 9 hours to fully rotate.”
2011 AG5 orbits the Sun once every 621 days and won’t have a very close encounter with Earth until 2040, when it will safely pass our planet at a distance of about 1.1 million km (670,000 miles).
“Interestingly, shortly after its discovery, 2011 AG5 became a poster-child asteroid when our analysis showed it had a small chance of a future impact,” said Dr. Paul Chodas, the director of the Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“Continued observations of this object ruled out any chance of impact, and these new ranging measurements by the planetary radar team will further refine exactly where it will be far into the future.”
Source : Breaking Science News