Radar images received by the Green Bank Telescope reveal new details of the surface of asteroid 2015 TB145. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSSR/NRAO/AUI/NSF
Scientists used the 230-foot DSS-14 antenna at Goldstone, California, to transmit high-power microwaves toward the asteroid. The signal bounced off the asteroid, and its radar echoes were received by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s (NRAO) 100-meter (330-foot) Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. The radar images achieve a spatial resolution as fine as 13 ft/ pixel, an amazing feat.
The radar images were taken as the asteroid flew past Earth on October 31 at 1 p.m. EDT at about 1.3 lunar distances (300,000 miles, or 480,000 kilometers) from Earth. Asteroid 2015 TB145 is spherical in shape and approximately 2,000 feet in diameter.
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