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Science and Innovations

Flagstaff Astronomers Study Unusual Fast-Spinning Asteroid

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Flagstaff astronomers are studying an asteroid that’s spinning faster than any other of its size. The asteroid has broken what’s known as the “spin barrier.” 

Large asteroids take at least two hours to make a full rotation. Scientists believe they would fall apart if they spun any faster.

But an international team of astronomers found Asteroid 60716 breaks the spin barrier.

Nick Moskovitz of Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff is part of the team. “We know of no object this size—two kilometers or so in size—that spins this fast,” he says. “So this is the record holder in that size range.”  

Big asteroids are thought to be made of loosely bound rubble. Moskovitz says tiny particles might act like glue to keep this asteroid from falling apart—like the way a sand castle keeps its shape after it dries out.

He suspects other asteroids go through short periods of fast spinning, and then slow down again. Moskovitz says they just happened to catch this one in the act.

The study appears in the March issue of Icarus.

Melissa joined KNAU's team in 2015 to report on science, health, and the environment. Her work has appeared nationally on NPR and been featured on Science Friday. She grew up in Tucson, Arizona, where she fell in love with the ecology and geology of the Sonoran desert.
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