NASA's planetary radar captures detailed view of oblong asteroid NASA
The Goldstone radar observations took place from Jan. 29 to Feb. 4, 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 nine hours to fully rotate.
Beyond contributing to a better understanding of what this object looks like up close, the Goldstone radar observations provide a key measurement of the asteroid's orbit around the Sun. Radar provides precisemeasurements that can help scientists at NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies refine the asteroid's orbital path.
"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 Paul Chodas, the director for CNEOS at JPL."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.
CNEOS calculates every known near-Earth asteroid orbit to provide assessments of potential impact hazards. Both the Goldstone Solar System Radar Group and CNEOS are supported by NASA's Near-Earth Object Observations Program within the Planetary Defense Coordination Office at the agency's headquarters in Washington.
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