An asteroid that flew past Earth recently was not one but two pieces of rocks melded with one another. It resembled a snowman, with a head and a body, and was pretty big. It was classified as a potentially hazardous object.&nbsp;

The asteroid, named 2024 ON, flew past Earth at a speed of 19,842 mph (31,933 kph) on September 17. It was different from the other asteroids that regularly approach Earth. At 1150 feet (350 metres) in length, about the size of a skyscraper, it could have caused destruction if it had hit&nbsp;Earth.&nbsp;

However, it zoomed past safely at a distance of 620,000 miles (1 million kilometres), which is over 2.5 times the average distance between the moon and Earth.

The asteroid looked like a peanut, with a visible dip in the middle.&nbsp;Scientists say that years ago, the two asteroids came extremely close to each other. So much so that they became gravitationally bound. Ultimately, they became one.&nbsp;

The distinction between the two was made by the distinct neck present, with one lobe roughly 50 per cent bigger than the other.

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/ceres-largest-object-in-asteroid-belt-shows-signs-of-life-near-ertunet-crater-762152">Ceres, largest object in asteroid belt, shows signs of life near Ertunet Crater</a>

The asteroid also likely has large boulders on its surface. "Bright radar spots on the asteroid's surface likely indicate large boulders," the statement says.

"This asteroid is classified as potentially hazardous, but it does not pose a hazard to Earth for the foreseeable future," NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a statement.&nbsp;

Scientists used the Goldstone Solar System Radar in California to measure the asteroid and experts have now reduced "the uncertainties in the asteroid's distance from Earth and in its future motion for many decades."

Such two-lobed asteroids are called "contact binaries", and astronomers say that at least 14 per cent of all near-Earth asteroids that are bigger than 660 feet belong to this group.&nbsp;

Selam, the little moonlet with asteroid Dinkinesh, is one of the most famous contact binary asteroids. It sits between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter and was discovered by the Lucy spacecraft earlier this year. It is the first contact-binary satellite found to be orbiting an asteroid.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

An asteroid that flew past Earth recently was not one but two pieces of rocks melded with one another. It resembled a snowman, with a head and a body, and was pretty big.

An asteroid that flew past Earth recently was not one but two pieces of rocks melded with one another. It resembled a snowman, with a head and a body, and was pretty big. It was classified as a potentially hazardous object. The asteroid, named 2024 ON, flew past Earth at a speed of 19,842 mph (31,933 kph) on September 17. It was different from the other asteroids that regularly approach Earth. At 1150 feet (350 metres) in length, about the size of a skyscraper, it could have caused destruction if it had hit Earth. However, it zoomed past safely at a distance of 620,000 miles (1 million kilometres), which is over 2.5 times the average distance between the moon and Earth. The asteroid looked like a peanut, with a visible dip in the middle. Scientists say that years ago, the two asteroids came extremely close to each other. So much so that they became gravitationally bound. Ultimately, they became one. The distinction between the two was made by the distinct neck present, with one lobe roughly 50 per cent bigger than the other. Also Read: Ceres, largest object in asteroid belt, shows signs of life near Ertunet Crater The asteroid also likely has large boulders on its surface. "Bright radar spots on the asteroid's surface likely indicate large boulders," the statement says. "This asteroid is classified as potentially hazardous, but it does not pose a hazard to Earth for the foreseeable future," NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a statement. Scientists used the Goldstone Solar System Radar in California to measure the asteroid and experts have now reduced "the uncertainties in the asteroid's distance from Earth and in its future motion for many decades." Such two-lobed asteroids are called "contact binaries", and astronomers say that at least 14 per cent of all near-Earth asteroids that are bigger than 660 feet belong to this group. Selam, the little moonlet with asteroid Dinkinesh, is one of the most famous contact binary asteroids. It sits between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter and was discovered by the Lucy spacecraft earlier this year. It is the first contact-binary satellite found to be orbiting an asteroid.

Two rocks fused into one to form peanut-like asteroid that flew past Earth

About a month ago, NASA's Lucy mission flew past an asteroid named Dinkinesh and discovered that it has a tiny moon. But it wasn't any ordinary moon. It was a contact binary moon, where two space rocks gently rested against each other.

About a month ago, NASA's Lucy mission flew past an asteroid named Dinkinesh and discovered that it has a tiny moon. But it wasn't any ordinary moon. It was a contact binary moon, where two space rocks gently rested against each other. This unique moon needed a name. So, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) approved "Selam," meaning peace in Ethiopia's language. However, Selam is not a random name. While Dinkinesh is the Ethiopian name for the Lucy fossil, Selam comes from another fossil of the same species of human ancestor. NASA named the Lucy mission after the hominid skeleton fossil Lucy, discovered in Ethiopia in 1974 and estimated to be 3.18 million years old. The mission's objective is to revolutionise our knowledge of planetary origins and the formation of the Solar System. Selam was the name of the fossil of a three-year-old girl, discovered in 2000 in Dikika, Ethiopia and belonged to the same species as Lucy. Although the fossil is often called Lucy's baby, it lived more than 100,000 years before Lucy. ALSO READ | Researchers detect exoplanet orbiting star nine times smaller than Sun The surprisingly high-resolution images by the Lucy mission showed boulder-strewn surfaces on Dinkinesh and Selam. If looked at closely, the 790-metre wide asteroid, Dinkinesh, looks similar to Bennu, visited by OSIRIS-REx. As the team at NASA completed downlinking the data from Lucy's first asteroid encounter and continues to process it, they're expecting more images to come from the flyby. NASA has added Lucy's encounter with Dinkinesh as an in-flight test of the spacecraft's systems and instruments. A recent blog post by Katherine Kretke of the Southwest Research Insitute said all systems worked fine. Kretke wrote, "The tools and techniques refined with data from this encounter will help the team prepare for the mission's main targets, the never-before-explored Jupiter Trojan asteroids." She added, "In addition to the images taken by Lucy's high-resolution L'LORRI camera and its Terminal Tracking Cameras (T2Cam), Lucy's other science instruments also collected data that will help scientists understand these puzzling asteroids." Lucy plans to visit nine more asteroids in six separate encounters in the next decade. After receiving a boost from Earth's gravity in December 2024, the spacecraft will head towards the main asteroid belt. In April 2025, it will encounter an asteroid named Donaldjohanson. The spacecraft will continue to pass through the main belt and finally reach its primary targets, the Jupiter Trojan asteroids, in 2027. (With inputs from agencies)

Asteroid Dinky's double moon, discovered by Lucy mission, has officially been named

dinkinesh

Dinkinesh, News on Dinkinesh, stories on Dinkinesh, articles on Dinkinesh, Dinkinesh stories at Wion, Dinkinesh news, Dinkinesh latest news