It's not terribly often we get a visiting asteroid that comes close enough for people on Earth to see it with a strong set of binoculars. That's what happened on January 26th when asteroid 2004 BL86 swooped through our space neighborhood. Scientists and amateur astronomers alike had their eyes on the object, and NASA was especially thrilled to notice it brought some company. Asteroid 2004 BL86 has a tiny moon in tow. The main asteroid is 11-hundred feet across. Its mini-me moon is just 230 feet across. It's unusual, but not unheard of. NASA notes that about 16 percent of near-Earth asteroids larger than 655 feet have a moon, or even two moons. http://cnet.co/1tm1mH9 http://bit.ly/1fJ5yqZ
Near-Earth Asteroid Has Its Own Little Moon
It's not terribly often we get a visiting asteroid that comes close enough for people on Earth to see it with a strong set of binoculars. That's what happened on January 26th when asteroid 2004 BL86 swooped through our space neighborhood. Scientists and amateur astronomers alike had their eyes on the object, and NASA was especially thrilled to notice it brought some company. Asteroid 2004 BL86 has a tiny moon in tow. The main asteroid is 11-hundred feet across. Its mini-me moon is just 230 feet across. It's unusual, but not unheard of. NASA notes that about 16 percent of near-Earth asteroids larger than 655 feet have a moon, or even two moons. http://cnet.co/1tm1mH9 http://bit.ly/1fJ5yqZ
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment