NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) detected a passing space rock on January 27 which has continued to amaze. ATLAS, located in Hawaii, detected the asteroid which flew by Earth at a distance of 302,000 km (188,000 miles).
This distance makes it a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA), which means scientists have a duty to study the space rock as it could one day pose a threat to Earth.
This is where the Arecibo Observatory stepped in to analyse the passing asteroid, which has now become known as 2020 BX12.
Astronomers quickly noticed how the asteroid was part of a binary asteroid system, where one large space rock is orbited by another.
The main asteroid in this system is approximately 165 metres in diameter, while its smaller companion has a diameter of just 70 metres.
Observations from the Arecibo Observatory, located in Puerto Rico, found the asteroids have a mutual orbit time of 45 to 50 hours.
The Planetary Science Radar Group, which runs the Arecibo Observatory, said: “The primary asteroid was discovered on the 27th of January by the ATLAS survey on Mauna Loa in Hawaii and fits the definition of a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA) due to its size and minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) of 302,000 km (188,000 miles) from the Earth.
“While this means it could conceivably come closer to the Earth than the Moon, 2020 BX12 poses no danger at this time and is currently receding from Earth.
“The movement of the satellite between the two observations, which were made 23 hours apart, suggests a mutual orbital period of 45 to 50 hours and would be consistent with a tidally locked satellite.
“Due to projection effects, uncertainties remain on the rotation periods, and a shorter mutual orbital period of 15 to 16 hours has not yet been ruled out.”
The ESA has confirmed it will launch the Human Exploration Research Analog (Hera) mission in 2024 where it will head to the Didymos binary asteroid system.
The European space exploration arm will work alongside NASA, which has developed an asteroid deflecting satellite.
NASA has already begun its design phase on a spacecraft known as the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) which will be used to redirect an asteroids path, when the massive space rock inevitably heads towards our planet.
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NASA said on its website: “DART is a planetary defence-driven test of one of the technologies for preventing the Earth impact of a hazardous asteroid: the kinetic impactor.
“DART’s primary objective is to demonstrate a kinetic impact on a small asteroid.
“The binary near-Earth asteroid (65803) Didymos is the target for DART.”
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