#teamradar — Public Fediverse posts

@setiinstitute For anyone wanting more details on the #TeamRadar observations of #2024MK:

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-planetary-radar-tracks-two-large-asteroid-close-approaches
https://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroids/june2024.goldstone.planning.html

NASA management also promotes #TeamRadar at #SBAG , highlighting the #2011UL21 and #2024MK observations two weeks ago: https://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroids/june2024.goldstone.planning.html

Thank you again, management.

More details about the #TeamRadar observations of asteroids #2024MK and #2011UL21 from #Goldstone and #Canberra as they flew past Earth this past week:

https://www.nasa.gov/solar-system/asteroids/near-earth-asteroid/nasas-planetary-radar-tracks-two-large-asteroid-close-approaches/

2011 UL21 turns out to have a small satellite orbiting it at something over 3 kilometers away.

And 2024 MK is really tumbling.

@setiinstitute

It has been a busy weekend for #TeamRadar at #Goldstone and #Canberra .

And thanks go to the optical observers who obtained lots of lightcurve data on #2024MK from Chile and South Africa.

QT NASA Asteroid Watch @AsteroidWatch
2024 June 30

New radar imagery of 2024 MK from @NASAJPL ’s Goldstone Solar System Radar. These images - taken when the #asteroid was about 240K miles away - reveal 2024 MK is about 500 ft. wide. Stay tuned for more #2024MK science.

For the astronomers:

The newly-discovered asteroid #2024MK was picked up by ATLAS from South Africa on June 16. It will be flying a lunar distance away on the 29th.

#TeamRadar is planning observations: https://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroids/june2024.goldstone.planning.html .

Does anyone happen to know of any lightcurve observations of this one yet? It would help to know the rotation period. It is still pretty far south for those of us in the north.

(I will ask around the usual sources and we will see if Mastodon is faster or not.)

#TeamRadar
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RT @MartinHajovsky
Rivera-Valentín (@PlanetTreky): On Mercury we're likely looking at pure ice than can be modeled with possible ice+ silicate grains. At Moon, inferred values likely vary from scattering primarily from ice to backscatter from ice + silicate grains + porosity
#LPSC2023 #LPSCMercury
https://twitter.com/MartinHajovsky/status/1636737985159786498