Scientists have obtained a radar image of the near-Earth asteroid 2011 AG5. Reported by NASA.
2011 AG5 belongs to the group of near-Earth asteroids. On February 3, it passed near Earth at a distance of 1.8 million kilometers, about 5 times the distance between the Moon and Earth. Although there was no risk of a collision with Earth, scientists were eager to obtain data on this asteroid, including its exact size, shape, surface features and orbit.
For these purposes, astronomers used Deep Space Network’s Goldstone Solar System Radar, installed in California, with an aperture diameter of up to 70 meters. It turned out that the asteroid has an elongated shape – 500 meters long and 150 meters wide. Among the 1040 objects observed by radar, the longest was 2011 AG5. In addition, a depression and a relief strip several tens of meters wide were found in one of the “hemispheres” of the asteroid.
Studying asteroids is essential to understanding the history of the solar system.
old Russian astronomer said It’s about an 800-meter asteroid passing by Earth.