Asteroid 2008 BT18.

3488 · Jul 13, 2008

Article about this binary asteroid, primary 600 metres wide, it's moon, 200 metres wide.Andrew Brown.  <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

silylene old · Jul 13, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Article about this binary asteroid, primary 600 metres wide, it's moon, 200 metres wide.Andrew Brown.  Posted by 3488</DIV>Thanks Andrew.  I also thought it was interesting how the smaller companion was so radar-bright in the attached photo.  Perhaps it is smoother?Also, if we end up closing down Arecibo, we will lose the ability to make discoveries such as this. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center">I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function. </div> </div>

3488 · Jul 13, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Thanks Andrew.  I also thought it was interesting how the smaller companion was so radar-bright in the attached photo.  Perhaps it is smoother?Also, if we end up closing down Arecibo, we will lose the ability to make discoveries such as this. Posted by silylene</DIV>You are very welcome silylene.I found this very interesting & too noticed how bright the smaller companion was, in fact at these wavelengths, the campanion despite its much smaller size is at least as bright as the much larger primary, if not even more so. Yes that usually points to a smooth surface, so the question is this,Why is the 'moon' much smoother than the primary?I agree about the Arecibo comment, it will be a bloody travesty is that closes down due to the lack of a small sum of money. Of course discoveries like this will be far more difficult, if near on impossible without Arecibo. Andrew Brown.  <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

MeteorWayne · Jul 13, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>You are very welcome silylene.I found this very interesting & too noticed how bright the smaller companion was, in fact at these wavelengths, the campanion despite its much smaller size is at least as bright as the much larger primary, if not even more so. Yes that usually points to a smooth surface, so the question is this,Why is the 'moon' much smoother than the primary?I agree about the Arecibo comment, it will be a bloody travesty is that closes down due to the lack of a small sum of money. Of course discoveries like this will be far more difficult, if near on impossible without Arecibo.Andrew Brown.  Posted by 3488</DIV> Never mind the discoveries, how about protecting our planet? As the article points out, the challenge of deflecting a potential earth impacting asteroid is hard enough (Not that this is the case here, but talking about a so far unknown potential object). Without Arecibo, we might not have found out it was a binary until we got there to attempt to deflect it. What would we do then? Any attempt to deflect the primary could send the "moon" on a direct collision course. If we hadn't considered that possibility in advance, because we didn't know it was a binary until arriving, what would we do then?Bend over and kiss our.....well you know <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-yell.gif" border="0" alt="Yell" title="Yell" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

silylene old · Jul 14, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Never mind the discoveries, how about protecting our planet? As the article points out, the challenge of deflecting a potential earth impacting asteroid is hard enough (Not that this is the case here, but talking about a so far unknown potential object). Without Arecibo, we might not have found out it was a binary until we got there to attempt to deflect it. What would we do then? Any attempt to deflect the primary could send the "moon" on a direct collision course. If we hadn't considered that possibility in advance, because we didn't know it was a binary until arriving, what would we do then?Bend over and kiss our.....well you know Posted by MeteorWayne</DIV> I completely agree.As one small step, I do intend to continue to remind us all of every discovery and contribution that Arecibo makes to mankind. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center">I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function. </div> </div>

MeteorWayne · Jul 14, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>I completely agree.As one small step, I do intend to continue to remind us all of every discovery and contribution that Arecibo makes to mankind. Posted by silylene</DIV> Great idea. SOunds like an article I should write for our local newspapers as well. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

mithridates · Jul 14, 2008

Good point about the observatory. "Without this observatory we could get hit by an asteroid before we know it" is certainly a much better pitch than "With this observatory we might finally find an alien signal in the next few decades, maybe. Or maybe not."It's nice when an asteroid drops by to make the flyby for us instead of having to send out a probe to observe it. Two questions:-It seems to be flying by right now; what sort of observations will we be able to make?-If we had known about it a few years in advance how easy would it have been to launch a probe to fly by (I assume with a very early launch and a gradually increasing orbit around Earth) and check it out up close? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> ----- http://mithridates.blogspot.com </div>

MeteorWayne · Jul 14, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Good point about the observatory. "Without this observatory we could get hit by an asteroid before we know it" is certainly a much better pitch than "With this observatory we might finally find an alien signal in the next few decades, maybe. Or maybe not."It's nice when an asteroid drops by to make the flyby for us instead of having to send out a probe to observe it. Two questions:-It seems to be flying by right now; what sort of observations will we be able to make?-If we had known about it a few years in advance how easy would it have been to launch a probe to fly by (I assume with a very early launch and a gradually increasing orbit around Earth) and check it out up close? Posted by mithridates</DIV> The advantage of capproaches this close is that radar observations are possible, this led to the discovery of the binary nature of this asteroid. It also vastly reduces the orbital uncertainty making future close approaches more precise. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

MeteorWayne · Jul 14, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>The advantage of approaches this close is that radar observations are possible, this led to the discovery of the binary nature of this asteroid. It also vastly reduces the orbital uncertainty making future close approaches more precise. Posted by MeteorWayne</DIV> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

mithridates · Jul 14, 2008

I see. So nothing stunning to expect picturewise? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> ----- http://mithridates.blogspot.com </div>

MeteorWayne · Jul 14, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>I see. So nothing stunning to expect picturewise? Posted by mithridates</DIV> Possible, but probably not. The binary asteroid is about 6 times farther than the moon, and the largest chunk is only 600 meters across. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

CalliArcale · Jul 14, 2008

In addition to Arecibo, Goldstone is also tracking the object with radar.  The Deep Space Network dishes can all be used as radar instruments, because they are equipped with transmitters.  So if we do indeed lose Arecibo, we will still have radar capability.  But it will be much lower resolution.  Arecibo's huge dish simply cannot be matched. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff." -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

3488 · Jul 15, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>In addition to Arecibo, Goldstone is also tracking the object with radar.  The Deep Space Network dishes can all be used as radar instruments, because they are equipped with transmitters.  So if we do indeed lose Arecibo, we will still have radar capability.  But it will be much lower resolution.  Arecibo's huge dish simply cannot be matched. Posted by CalliArcale</DIV>Got a couple of slightly better observations here.2008 BT18 Arecibo. <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/14/14/4e159a6b-bfd8-46c0-9e58-acbe32e5b1fe.Medium.gif" alt="" />2008 BT18 muliple obs Arecibo. <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/3/14/43c90a30-024d-423c-8e06-04fc6af91f47.Medium.gif" alt="" />Talking of binary NEAs how about this triple NEA?2001 SN263. <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/4/6/e4c4f30d-9d2b-4045-b6ee-27fe57ef7dfe.Medium.png" alt="" />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

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