The asteroid 'Kleopatra' is challenging what we know about the solar system
The most detailed telescope photographs yet of the asteroid Kleopatra — named after the ancient Egyptian queen — clearly show its weird “dog-bone” shape, and astronomers say their studies of it could yield clues about the solar system.
The latest observations of the asteroid, more than 125 million miles from Earth in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, have allowed scientists to more accurately measure Kleopatra’s unusual shape and mass — and it’s turned out to be about a third lighter than expected, which gives clues to its composition and formation.
“Asteroids are not inert bodies but complex mini-geological worlds,” said Franck Marchis, a senior planetary astronomer at the SETI Institute in California and the lead author of a new study of Kleopatra published this month in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. “Kleopatra and other weird asteroids are natural laboratories to challenge our knowledge of the solar system and make us think outside the box.”
Kleopatra was discovered in 1880 and draws its name from the original spelling of Cleopatra in the Greek alphabet. It’s relatively large for an asteroid and was observed by Earth-based telescopes for decades to determine its orbit around the sun. Its peculiar shape was only confirmed by radar about 10 years ago.
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/new-photos-dog-bone-asteroid-reveal-s-truly-weird-rcna2006
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