Copyright:JAXA,
U. of Tokyo,
Chiba Tech,
Tokyo U. of Science,
AIST,
Paris Obs.,
IAC
中文翻譯:
在遙遠的太空中，有一顆特別的星球叫做98843 Torifune。日本的機器人太空船Hayabusa2 早前飛過這顆小行星，拍下了很多照片。之前在地球上遠遠看去，Torifune好像是一個橢圓形的星球，但Hayabusa2的拍攝發現，Torifune實際上有兩個連在一起的部分，就像一個有兩個頭的怪物呢！這顆小行星長度大約等於四個足球場，常常會靠近地球，但並不是一個威脅。除了這兩個部分，Torifune還有很多大石頭，但驚奇的是，它的表面沒有明顯的坑洞，可能是因為它的表面都是一些石頭的碎石。就像小行星Arrokoth一樣，似乎這兩個部分之前是分開形成的，然後碰撞在一起黏在一起了。Hayabusa2還在2018年遇見了小行星Ryugu，而現在它正在朝2031年與1998 KY26的遇見前進，這顆較小的小行星轉動得特別快，並且可能裡面有冰的儲存庫哦！
原文:
Why is this asteroid a double? Earlier this month the Japanese robotic spacecraft Hayabusa2 shot past asteroid 98943 Torifune and captured pictures. Although previous observations from distant Earth indicated that Torifune was oblong, Hayabusa2 found that Torifune actually has two joined lobes. With a length of about four soccer fields, this space rock frequently comes near the Earth as it orbits the Sun, although it is not a threat. Besides the two lobes, Torifune shows many large boulders, but, surprisingly, no obvious craters, likely because its surface is a pile of rubble. Like asteroid Arrokoth, it appears that each lobe formed separately before colliding and becoming stuck together. Hayabusa2 famously encountered asteroid Ryugu in 2018, and now heads for an encounter in 2031 with 1998 KY26, a smaller asteroid that rotates unusually fast and might have reservoirs of ice.
來源:NASA每日圖片
