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Astronomers Look “Inside” an Asteroid for the First Time
Itokawa, a peanut-shaped asteroid that has different densities in its small body. Credit: ESO/JAXA
From directly inferring the inside of an asteroid for the first time, astronomers have discovered these space rocks can have strange variations in density. The observations of Itokawa — which you may remember from the Japanese Hayabusa mission that landed on the asteroid in 2005 — not only teach us more about how asteroids came to be, but could help protect Earth against stray space rocks in the future, the researchers said.
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Read the rest of Astronomers Look “Inside” an Asteroid for the First Time (286 words)
© Elizabeth Howell for Universe Today, 2014. |
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Post tags: Asteroid Itokawa, Asteroids, ESO
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Source: http://www.universetoday.com/108971/astronomers-look-inside-an-asteroid-for-the-first-time/
