Newly discovered potentially dangerous asteroid found to be a contact binary
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Radar images taken during the close fly of a newly discovered potentially dangerous asteroid has revealed that it is a contact binary, formed by two objects stuck together to produce a single asteroid with a peanutlike shape.
Discovered by the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) on Mauna Loa in Hawaii on July 27, the near-Earth asteroid’s shape resembles that of a peanut. Like the asteroid 2024 JV33 that made close approach with Earth a month earlier, 2024 ON is likely a contact binary, with two rounded lobes separated by a pronounced neck, one lobe about 50% larger than the other. The radar images determined that it is about 755 feet (350 meters) long. Features larger than 12.3 feet (3.75 meters) across can be seen on the surface. Bright radar spots on the asteroid’s surface likely indicate large boulders. The images show about 90% of one rotation over the course of about six hours.
The radar images were taken one day before that close approach of 620,000 miles on September 17, 2024, and once again show that a large number of near-Earth asteroids, as much as 14%, are contact binaries. The data also helped better refine 2024ON’s orbit around the Sun, which show that though the asteroid has the potential to hit the Earth, its path will not do so for the foreseeable future.
Click for original image.
Radar images taken during the close fly of a newly discovered potentially dangerous asteroid has revealed that it is a contact binary, formed by two objects stuck together to produce a single asteroid with a peanutlike shape.
Discovered by the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) on Mauna Loa in Hawaii on July 27, the near-Earth asteroid’s shape resembles that of a peanut. Like the asteroid 2024 JV33 that made close approach with Earth a month earlier, 2024 ON is likely a contact binary, with two rounded lobes separated by a pronounced neck, one lobe about 50% larger than the other. The radar images determined that it is about 755 feet (350 meters) long. Features larger than 12.3 feet (3.75 meters) across can be seen on the surface. Bright radar spots on the asteroid’s surface likely indicate large boulders. The images show about 90% of one rotation over the course of about six hours.
The radar images were taken one day before that close approach of 620,000 miles on September 17, 2024, and once again show that a large number of near-Earth asteroids, as much as 14%, are contact binaries. The data also helped better refine 2024ON’s orbit around the Sun, which show that though the asteroid has the potential to hit the Earth, its path will not do so for the foreseeable future.