Scientists at a Puerto Rican observatory are following an asteroid due to fly past Earth in a day’s time amid the global pandemic. In pictures, the asteroid looks like it is wearing a face mask, the researchers said.
Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory announced their discovery on
Facebook in the afternoon of April 19, 2020.
“#TeamRadar and all our staff are taking the proper safety measures as we continue observations,” they began. “This week we have been observing near-Earth asteroid 1998 OR2, which looks like it’s wearing a mask!”
“The small-scale topographic features such as hills and ridges on one end of asteroid 1998 OR2 are fascinating scientifically,” said Anne Virkki, head of Planetary Radar at Arecibo Observatory, in a
press release. “But since we are all thinking about COVID-19,” Virkki said, “these features make it look like 1998 OR2 remembered to wear a mask.”
According to the observatory’s
Planetary Radar Science Group, the Arecibo data confirmed that 1998 OR2 is approximately 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) across in size—around half the size of Mount Everest—and is moving at 19,461 miles per hour. It will pass Earth from “16 lunar distances” away, meaning it is 16 times further away than the Moon is from Earth.
The group found that asteroid 1998 OR2 rotates once every 4.1 hours.
Range-Doppler images have chronicled this rotation and captured the asteroid from all sides, showcasing both its overall shape and a number of smaller and more detailed topographic features.
During the pandemic, Arecibo Observatory’s scientists are continuing to monitor asteroids and use observations to determine their paths in order to work out whether they pose a risk to Earth. In line with social distancing, the observatory has limited the number of scientists and radar operators at the facility; all wear masks during observations.
As such, a number of the photos posted by observatory staff on social media include masked astronomers mimicking the trajectory of the “masked” asteroid with profiles of their own masked faces.
As the asteroid approaches its closest position to Earth, scientists at the Arecibo Observatory are not the only experts tracking its movements. Italian astrophysicist Gianluca Masi is planning to host a live webcast about 1998 OR2 for all interested parties, featuring telescope views of the asteroid’s trajectory, on April 28 via his
Virtual Telescope Project, reported
LADBible.
Researcher Flaviane Venditti told the
University of Central Florida that it is important to know the asteroid 1998 OR2’s orbit precisely because in the year 2079, the asteroid “will pass Earth about 3.5 times closer than it will this year.”
“Although this asteroid is not projected to impact Earth, it is important to understand the characteristics of these types of objects to improve impact-risk mitigation technologies,” Venditti added.
When
NASA first identified the asteroid in Hawaii in 1998, experts concluded that 1998 OR2 was “large enough to cause global effects” if it did impact Earth. However, on April 29, 2020, the “mask-wearing” asteroid is not expected to collide with our planet.
Arecibo Observatory is managed by the University of Central Florida and is the site of the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope. The observatory has been monitoring near-Earth asteroids since the mid-1990s.
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