Dog-Bone Shaped Asteroid 216 Kleopatra
Credit: Stephen Ostro et al. (JPL), Arecibo Radio Telescope, NSF, NASA
Posted on 02/27/2007 9:29:46 AM PST by SunkenCiv
The asteroid, named 216 Kleopatra, is a large object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter; it measures about 217 kilometers (135 miles) long and about 94 kilometers (58 miles) wide. Kleopatra was discovered in 1880, but until now, its shape was unknown.
"With its dog bone shape, Kleopatra has the most unusual shape we've seen in the Solar System," said Dr. Steven Ostro of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who led a team of astronomers observing Kleopatra with the 305-meter (1,000-foot) telescope of the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. "Kleopatra could be the remnant of an incredibly violent collision between two asteroids that did not completely shatter and disperse all the fragments."
The astronomers used the telescope to bounce radar signals off Kleopatra... [T]hese new radar images are the first ever made of a main belt asteroid. They were obtained when Kleopatra was about 171 million kilometers (106 million miles) from Earth...
Kleopatra is one of several dozen asteroids whose coloring suggests they contain metal. Kleopatra's strong reflection of radar signals indicates it is mostly metal, possibly nickel-iron alloy. These objects were once heated, melted and differentiated into a structure containing a core, mantle and crust, much as the Earth was formed. Unlike Earth, those asteroids cooled and solidified throughout, and many underwent massive collisions that exposed their metallic cores...
"The radar observations indicated the surface of Kleopatra is porous and loosely consolidated, much like surface of the Moon, although the composition is different" said Dr. Michael Nolan of the Arecibo Observatory. "Kleopatra's interior arrangement of solid metal fragments and loose metallic rubble, and the geometry of fractures within any solid components, are unknown. What is clear is that this object's collision history is extremely unusual."
(Excerpt) Read more at echo.jpl.nasa.gov ...
Dog-Bone Shaped Asteroid 216 Kleopatra
Credit: Stephen Ostro et al. (JPL), Arecibo Radio Telescope, NSF, NASA
That can't be Sirius . . .
It must belong to Pluto.
How un-canis.
[scratches head] Looks more like something that came from molten metal... Earth-like planet gets hit and molten core material goes spinning off into space.
Obligatory Puppis graphic.
Time to go asteroid minig to get the metals......
Are we doomed?
Photon torpedo?
Just a dog collar, that's all that's left. ;')
Sorry to say...
Hartz flea insecticide.
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