May 24 2002
From The Space Library
Radar images of near-Earth asteroid 2000 DP107 revealed that it is a binary system, composed of two objects orbiting each other. The finding suggested that many near-Earth asteroids could be binaries. The images, taken by NASA's Goldstone telescope facility and the National Science Foundation's Arecibo Observatory, revealed that the asteroid was not one, but two objects, a nearly 800-meter-diameter (2,625-foot-diameter) primary and an almost 300-meter-diameter (985-foot-diameter) secondary, revolving around their common center of mass. The researchers suggested that approximately 16 percent of near-Earth asteroids larger than 200 meters (655 feet) in diameter could be binary systems. In addition, the analysis suggested that binaries with similar orbits might result from a close encounter of an asteroid and a planet, in which the planet's gravitational pull breaks off a portion of the asteroid. Scientists consider binary asteroids potential hazards to Earth and worthy of further study. (J. L. Margot et al., “Binary Asteroids in the Near-Earth Object Population,” Science 296, no. 5572 (24 May 2002): 1445-1448; NASA JPL, “Some Asteroids Have Astronomers Seeing Double,” news release, 11 April 2002.)
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