Lowell Observatory | 2016 Nov 30
[c]A team of astronomers have obtained observations of the smallest asteroid –with a diameter of only two meters (six feet)—ever characterized in detail. The asteroid, named 2015 TC25, is also one of the brightest near-Earth asteroids ever discovered, reflecting 60 percent of the sunlight that falls on it.
Credit: Marina Brozovic, NASA/JPL-Caltech, Univ of Arizona[/c][hr][/hr]
Discovered by the University of Arizona’s Catalina Sky Survey last October, 2015 TC25 was studied extensively by a team led by Vishnu Reddy, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. Other participating institutions include Lowell Observatory and Northern Arizona University. The team used four Earth-based telescopes for the study, ...
Reddy argues that new observations from the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility and Arecibo Planetary Radar show that 2015 TC25’s surface is similar to a rare type of highly reflective meteorite called aubrites. Aubrites consist of very bright minerals, mostly silicates, that formed in an oxygen-free, basaltic environment at very high temperatures. Only one out of every 1,000 meteorites that fall to Earth belong to this class. ...
It's a Bird … It's a Plane … It's the Tiniest Asteroid!
University of Arizona | 2016 Nov 30
A team led by UA astronomer Vishnu Reddy has characterized the smallest known asteroid using Earth-based telescopes. Measuring just six feet across, asteroid 2015 TC25 also is one of the brightest, according to the study. ...
Physical Characterization of ~2-Meter Diameter Near-Earth Asteroid 2015 TC25:
A Possible Boulder from E-type Asteroid (44) Nysa - Vishnu Reddy et al
- Astronomical Journal 152(6):162 (Dec 2016) DOI: 10.3847/0004-6256/152/6/162