This image of asteroid 2015 TB145, a dead comet, was generated using radar data collected by the National Science Foundation’s 1,000-foot (305-meter) Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The radar image was taken on Oct. 30, 2015, and the image resolution is 25 feet (7.5 meters) per pixel. Credit: NAIC-Arecibo/NSF
Scientists observing asteroid 2015 TB145 with NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea, HI, have determined that the celestial object is more than likely a dead comet that has shed its volatiles after numerous passes around the sun.
The first radar images of the dead comet were generated by the National Science Foundation’s 305-meter (1,000-foot) Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The radar images from Arecibo indicate the object is spherical in shape and ~2,000 feet in diameter and completes a rotation about once every 5 hours.
“The IRTF data may indicate that the object might be a dead comet, but in the Arecibo images it appears to have donned a skull costume for its Halloween flyby,” said Kelly Fast, IRTF
IRTF’s telescope infrared data may finally put to rest the debate over whether 2015 TB145, with its unusual orbit, is anasteroid or is of cometary origin. “We found that the object reflects about 6% of the light it receives from the sun,” said Vishnu Reddy. “That is similar to fresh asphalt, and while here on Earth we think that is pretty dark, it is brighter than a typical comet which reflects only 3 – 5% of the light. That suggests it could be cometary in origin – but as there is no coma evident, the conclusion is it is a dead comet.”
The next time the asteroid will be in Earth’s neighborhood will be in September 2018, when it will make a distant pass at about 24 million miles or about a quarter the distance between Earth and the sun. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4760
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