APOD: 2026 July 14 Б Double Lobed Asteroid Torifune
Explanation:
Why is this asteroid a double?
Earlier this month the
Japanese
robotic spacecraft Hayabusa2 shot past asteroid
98943 Torifune and captured
pictures.
Although previous observations from
distant Earth indicated that Torifune was oblong,
Hayabusa2 found that
Torifune actually has two joined lobes.
With a length of about four
soccer fields, this
space rock frequently
comes near the
Earth as it orbits the
Sun,
although it is not a threat.
Besides the two lobes,
Torifune shows
many large boulders,
but, surprisingly,
no obvious craters,
likely because its surface is a
pile of rubble.
Like asteroid
Arrokoth,
it appears that each lobe formed separately before colliding and becoming
stuck together.
Hayabusa2 famously encountered
asteroid Ryugu in 2018,
and now heads for an encounter in 2031 with
1998 KY26, a smaller asteroid that
rotates unusually fast and might have reservoirs of ice.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
