Aerospace

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Rare Double Asteroid '2017 YE5' Revealed by Observatory Team

Near-Earth asteroid '2017 YE5' was discovered in December, 2017. In July, 2018, three of the world's largest radio telescopes joined forces to reveal that the asteroid is actually a rare double asteroid. '2017 YE5' is only the fourth binary near-Earth asteroid ever observed in which the two bodies are roughly the same size, not touching, and orbiting each other. This video shows radar images of the pair gathered by NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar, Arecibo Observatory, and Green Bank Observatory.

Read Tech Briefs' related story, How NASA Tracks the Asteroids Flying by Earth.