Astronomers have discovered an asteroid so small it could “be straddled by a person in a hypothetical space-themed sequel to the iconic bomb-riding scene in the movie Dr. Strangelove,” according to this colorful statement from University of Arizona (UA). So if there are any would-be Kubricks out there searching for a great set piece, look no further than asteroid 2015 TC25, which measures only two meters (six feet) in diameter—ideal for astronautical riding.
The asteroid is so small, in fact, that it may be classed as a meteoroid. Even so, there’s no strong consensus about when an asteroid is small enough to officially be considered a meteoroid, Vishnu Reddy, assistant professor at UA’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and lead author of new research on 2015 TC25, told me.
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“[T]he International Astronomical Union Minor Planet Center does not distinguish between small asteroids and meteoroids,” Reddy said. “So this object is a near-Earth object (NEO)…a very tiny one.”
Trajectory of 2015 TC25 at its close approach with Earth in 2015. Video: Marina Brozovic, NASA/JPL
First spotted on October 12, 2015 by UA’s Catalina Sky Survey, the wee space boulder has earned the distinction of being the smallest known NEO to be characterized in detail. Reddy and his colleagues observed the tiny object as it brushed by Earth at a distance of only 128,000 kilometers (79,500 miles), about a third of the distance from Earth to the Moon.
With the help of several optical, near-infrared, and radar observatories, including the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility and Arecibo Planetary Radar, the team pinned down key details about the object. The results, published in the November issue of The Astronomical Journal, reveal that 2015 TC25 is exceptional not only for its size, but for its remarkable brightness, high rotation speed (one spin every two minutes), and the absence of a dusty regolith layer on the surface, which is a feature commonly seen on larger asteroids.
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The object’s unusual shininess suggests that it may belong to a rare class of objects called aubrites, which are forged in high temperatures and composed of highly reflective silicates. Based on its composition, Reddy and his team think that 2015 TC25 is a fragment that was blasted off the 43-mile-long asteroid 44 Nysa by an impact event.
Only one in 1,000 meteorites that fall to Earth are aubrites, so it would be a boon for researchers to identify a pristine version to study in space.
“It’s especially important to study the physical properties of small near-Earth asteroids because of the threats these objects pose to us,” said study co-author Stephen Tegler, an astronomer based at Northern Arizona University, in a statement. “The meteoroid that caused injuries and damage in Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013 was less than 20 meters in diameter.”
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