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Asteroid found to be primitive, solid space rock: Researchers
Eros, a telephone-shaped asteroid that has been studied close-up for months by a satellite, is a solid, primitive chunk of rock scarred by craters and not a pile of rubble like some other asteroids, researchers say.
Eros, a telephone-shaped asteroid that has been studied close-up for months by a satellite, is a solid, primitive chunk of rock scarred by craters and not a pile of rubble like some other asteroids, researchers say.
A spacecraft called near earth asteroid rendezvous, or near, became the first to orbit an asteroid last February and instruments on the craft have probed the Chemistry, density and surface features of the 33.6 kms long rock. The results show that Eros is very old, perhaps as old as the earth itself.
We know now that the asteroid is a primitive body, Andrew F. Cheng, the near project scientist at the Johns Hopkins University applied Physics Laboratory. It has never been melted, never separated into core, crust and mantle the way the earth and the other inner planets have. Papers summarising the results of near appear on Friday in the journal ‘Science’. Eros is a near-earth asteroid, an orbiting space rock that passes close, but never crosses, the earth's orbital path. Eros' orbit dips to within 168 million kms of the Sun and then loops out to some 264 million kms from the Sun. The earth is about 149 million kms from the Sun. The near was launched in 1996 and settled into an orbit of Eros, an asteroid named for the Roman God of Love, on Feb. 14, 1999, St. Valentine's Day. The $ 224 mission is scheduled to end next February when the near will be deliberately flown into Eros. Mission scientists hope for a soft landing.
Bureau Report
We know now that the asteroid is a primitive body, Andrew F. Cheng, the near project scientist at the Johns Hopkins University applied Physics Laboratory. It has never been melted, never separated into core, crust and mantle the way the earth and the other inner planets have. Papers summarising the results of near appear on Friday in the journal ‘Science’. Eros is a near-earth asteroid, an orbiting space rock that passes close, but never crosses, the earth's orbital path. Eros' orbit dips to within 168 million kms of the Sun and then loops out to some 264 million kms from the Sun. The earth is about 149 million kms from the Sun. The near was launched in 1996 and settled into an orbit of Eros, an asteroid named for the Roman God of Love, on Feb. 14, 1999, St. Valentine's Day. The $ 224 mission is scheduled to end next February when the near will be deliberately flown into Eros. Mission scientists hope for a soft landing.
Bureau Report