Friday 15 April 2011

14th April 2011 Asteroid Video - what can we tell?

The asteroid GP59 starts in the middle and winks in and out to the bottom right.

Why is it winking in and out?  It's dimming because it is spinning, and as it spins it must be showing a smaller surface which reflects less light, and then a bigger surface. This indicates that it is elongated in shape and more cylindrical than spherical.  It's about 50 m in diameter.  (Can it really be that small and still visible?)

It's orbit is from just inside Venus to just outside Earth.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/04/14/asteroid-2011-gp59-spins-right-round-baby-right-round/

No comments: