2 min listen
165E-177-Flying Peanut
ratings:
Length:
2 minutes
Released:
Jan 25, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
For 16 years, since its discovery at Lowell Observatory, humans knew 1999 JD6 only as a strange, spinning, moving point of light in the night sky. It orbits the Sun once every 303 days on a path that brings it relatively close to Mercury, Venus, and Earth. In the far distant future this small world is likely to collide with one of these planets, or the Sun, or be ejected completely from the solar system. A RADAR movie made with a radio telescope reveals 1999 JD6 to be two asteroids in contact with each other giving the object a peanut shape. Strangely enough 1 in 6 Earth approaching objects are like 1999 JD6 in that they are really two separate objects whose tiny forces of gravity keep them in contact as they orbit the Sun.
Released:
Jan 25, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
93-Name That Asteroid: A unique program allows students to discover and name asteroids. by Travelers In The Night