In flying past Earth asteroid discovered mini-satellite

In 2004 the asteroid BL86, which flew past Earth, found little companion .





Asteroid 2004 BL86 has a diameter of about 325 meters, and its companion - about 70 meters. He walked at a minimum distance from Earth 1, 2 million miles yesterday at 19:19 MSK, but reached a maximum brightness around 9:00 am today (magnitude +9.0). He left a few hours at maximum brightness, so do not miss the last chance to watch the 2004 BL86 through a telescope.

Astronomers from the Deep Space Network published the first images from the radar, which can be seen a small companion asteroid. Made of 20 individual images with a resolution of 4 meters per pixel.



Scientists point out that the asteroids larger than 200 m double or triple system occurs in about 16% of cases. So this event is not too unique, but still quite rare.

2004 BL86 - the largest asteroid to fly so close to the Earth, in the coming years. The next such event is expected no later than 2027, when we visited in 1999 AN10.

To date, 240 known asteroids with one companion, 10 with two companions. Apart is the dwarf planet Pluto with five companions. See. full list of asteroids with satellites .

Source: geektimes.ru/post/244900/

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