In a new paper published in Astronomical Journal, Astronomers from the United States, Canada, and Europe provide a detailed description of the physical properties of the asteroid 2020 CD3 and the evolution of orbit – not the Earth’s second discovered temporary natural satellite or minimon. Their results prove that the 2020 CD3 is a natural body and not some remnants of man-made space junk.
This image, taken with the 8-meter Gemini North Telescope at Maunkea, Hawaii, shows the Earth’s minimum 2020 CD3 (center, point source). This combines three images obtained using different filters to produce a color composite. Image Credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / G. Fedorets.
Asteroids and comets can be temporarily captured by planets as natural satellites. Theoretical models Dales predicts that the Earth will also be surrounded by a cloud of such temporarily captured asteroids, colloquially called minimans.
Minimalists have many characteristics that make them objects of special interest.
As they spend extended time around the Earth, they can provide multiple windows to obtain observations of less studied populations of M-class asteroids.
Due to their relatively long grip, accessibility and small size, Minimus is the target for the first practical steps in the emerging field of asteroid resource utilization.
By 2020, only one minimum was discovered – 2006 RH120, a small-Earth planet about 2-3 meters in diameter (6.6-9.8 feet).
Another well-known minimum, 2020 CD3, mounted on February 15, 2020. The Catalina Sky Survey on was discovered by a 1.5-meter telescope. Lemon.
A day later, a warning automatically sent by NASA’s scout system announced that it had been temporarily trapped in the Earth-Moon system.
The discovery of a Discover object on a geographic orbit always raises doubts about the artificial origin, but during the 2.5 weeks following its discovery, the 2020 CD3 cannot be linked to a known artificial to-object or the natural origin cannot be ruled out.
On February 26, 2020, the Minor Planet Center added 2020 CD3 to the list of asteroids as a temporarily captured asbestos, with a request for further follow-up observations to establish its nature.
Dr. Gr., An astronomer from Belfast, Queen’s University. “The discovery was significant in February, as only other minimon astronomers have documented it, it was re-recorded in 2006, having spent a year on an orbit around the Earth,” said Gregory Fedorets.
“We could not miss such a rare opportunity!”
To demonstrate possible minimoons, the Fedorets and colleagues received high-precision astrometric follow-up observations in February-May 2020 along with the Lowell Discovery Telescope (LDT) and many other ground-based observations.
By measuring the changing brightness of the 2020 CD3 over time with a large monolithic imager (LMI) on the LDT, they set its rotation rate to about 3 minutes.
“Rotation rate was probably the biggest unanswered question of this research,” said Dr. Said Fedorets.
“Our team has shown that it moves slower than expected for a range of budgets of this size.”
The researchers also used the LMI / LDT combination to accurately measure the position of the 2020 CD3 to improve its orbit.
This information, Minimon’s physical characteristics – such as those associated with an inferred silicate composition – suggest that this is definitely a natural substance.
This sets it apart from the recently discovered Minimum, 2020 SO, which astronomers believe could be the Centaur Upper Stage rocket booster that helped lift NASA’s Surveyor 2 spacecraft to the moon in 1966.
Dr. Fedorets and co-authors also discovered that the 2020 CD3 is between 1 and 1.5 mm (3.3–4.9 ft) in diameter and is approximately 13,000 km (8,100 miles) close to Earth.
Dr. Lowell, an astronomer at the Observatory. “This object wasn’t bright enough to study for too long,” said Nick Moskovitz.
“The fact that we have these telescopes in our backyard and were able to respond quickly really made a difference.”
In 2023, the tax c. With the opening of the Rubin Observatory, more minimums are expected to be discovered in the following decade.
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Gregory Fedorets Et al. 2020. Establishment of the Earth’s minimum population by characterizing the asteroid 2020 CD3. AJ 160, 277; doi: 10.3847 / 1538-3881 / abc3bc
