NASA’s 70-m Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California, was used to collect these radar images of asteroid 2004 BL86. They show the asteroid, which made its closest approach 16:19 UTC yesterday at a distance of about 1.2 million km (about 3.1X the distance from Earth to the Moon).They also show that the asteroid has its own small moon.
Video Credit: NASA
Nice to know that it missed us
Well, if it was large enough you would never know it if it didn’t miss us!
True
Interesting that an asteroid can have a moon.I wouldn’t have guessed that asteroids have enough mass to hold a moon.
It’s not question of how much mass, per se, but that the gravitational attraction between them is greater than other forces acting upon them.
For instance, two ordinary marbles will orbit each other if their mutual gravitational attraction is greater than the other forces acting to move them away from one another.
Gravity is a weak force, but it acts at any distance.
My gravitational attraction is acting on YOU, right now!!!!! And there’s nothing you can do about it!
BWAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!!!!!!1!111!!eleventy!!!
😉
Hmm. It does seem to be rather spherical… Isn’t that a threshold indicator type thing?
I am just thankful that our manned space program is alive and well and we are very close to having the capability of landing on that celestial body and altering its course with nuclear warheads.
Wait.
Never mind.
You would be better served with splashing a ton of white paint on it to alter the course.
Or, just put another mass just ahead of it in the same orbit, or behind…..
A nuke is a big waste.
But, but; what about Bruce Willis and Liv Tyler!?!?!
Yeah, you could put Bruce or Liv on it too… but Michael Moore would be more likely to have enough mass to change its orbit.
Michael Moore as a gravity tractor. Heh…
Come on guys, no one is going to quote Star Wars? That’s no moon…