1998 KY26

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The meteoroid 1998 KY₂₆ (also written 1998 KY26) was discovered on June 2, 1998 by Spacewatch and observed until June 8 while it passed 800,000 kilometers (half a million miles) away from Earth (a little more than twice the Earth-Moon distance). Somewhat arbitrarily, an object must be at least 50 m in diameter to be considered an asteroid; 1998 KY₂₆ has a shape similar to a sphere and is about only 30 m (100 ft) in diameter. Its most fascinating characteristic is that it is fast-spinning and water-rich. This discovery is attributed to an international team of astronomers led by Dr. Steven J. Ostro of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The team used a radar telescope in California and optical telescopes in the Czech Republic, Hawaii, Arizona and California.

Asteroid 1998 KY₂₆ is the smallest solar system object ever studied in detail and was the fastest spinning object observed at the time of its discovery. Its rotational period is 10.7 minutes. Most asteroids with established rotational rates have periods measured in hours. It was the first recognized minor object which spins fast enough that it must be a monolithic object rather than a rubble pile as most asteroids are thought to be. Since 1998 KY₂₆ was found to be a fast rotator, several other small asteroids have been found to also have short rotation periods, some even faster than 1998 KY₂₆.

External links

• Scott Hudson's Homepage: The Earth-Crossing Asteroid 1998 KY₂₆
• Steven Ostro's Homepage: 1998 KY₂₆

References

• Media Relations Office. Sun never sets, for long, on fast-spinning, water-rich asteroid (press release). Pasadena, California: Jet Propulsion Laboratory. July 22, 1999.

The minor planetsedit

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For other objects and regions, see: Binary asteroids, Asteroid moons and the Solar system For a complete listing, see: List of asteroids. For pronunciation, see: Pronunciation of asteroid names.