RSS

Close-up photo of asteroid

This is a photo of the asteroid hit by NASA’s “DART” mission on Monday, September 26, 2022, just before impact. The story (read it here) says the egg-shaped asteroid is 530 feet in diameter. (Wikipedia says 560 feet, here.) My question is, in which direction, since it’s not round? If that’s the distance through the narrower cross-section, then the larger boulders are about the size of a house. Wikipedia says this asteroid is roughly the size and mass of Egypt’s Great Pyramid. Those rocks look loose to me, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a ball of ice with rocks stuck in it. It probably didn’t come from a disintegrated planet; more likely asteroids are leftover material from planet formation or loose material that failed to coalesce into a planet (see discussion here). If the material originally was interstellar dust, it’s interesting the rocks resemble those on earth.

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