Posted on 10/16/2022 2:51:43 PM PDT by BenLurkin
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency intends to launch its DESTINY+ mission to the near-Earth asteroid Phaethon in 2024, with the aim of flying by the space rock in 2028, so this "potentially hazardous" asteroid has been studied intensely in the lead-up to the mission.
Researchers recently made one particularly notable discovery about Phaethon: Its spin is speeding up. The asteroid's rotational period is decreasing by 4 milliseconds per year. Even a small change like this could impact the DESTINY+ observations. Knowing the specific spin rate allows the team to more accurately predict the asteroid's orientation during the spacecraft's flyby — in turn, that allows the team to be more specific with their observations.
It's rare for an asteroid's spin to change; Phaethon is just the 11th known asteroid to show a change in its rotational period, and it's the largest of those space rocks, with an average diameter of 3.4 miles (5.4 kilometers).
Using data and observations from 1989 through 2021, Sean Marshall, a planetary scientist at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, created a model to determine the shape of Phaethon in preparation for the DESTINY+ mission.
"The predictions from the shape model did not match the data," Marshall said in a statement. "The times when the model was brightest were clearly out of sync with the times when Phaethon was actually observed to be brightest. I realized this could be explained by Phaethon's rotation period changing slightly at some time before the 2021 observations, perhaps from comet-like activity when it was near perihelion [the point in its orbit nearest to the sun] in December 2020."
Marshall determined that the model that best fit the data included constant rotational acceleration — in other words, the regular decrease of Phaethon's rotational period of 4 milliseconds per year.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Can you imagine how dull your life must be if your job is to study, to the millisecond, changes in the spin of asteroids?
Infected with Space COVID?
Yeah, but they get all the hot chicks!…
The ultimate cushy job. Probably gets two weeks paid vacation and uses it going to cosplay anime conventions.
Close to planet killer class object.
Just strolling by looking for a nice place to land ....
Computer modeling does all the heavy lifting.
4 msec/year change? That means your observation next year would be off by what? An inch? A tenth of an inch?
I worked for ten years at what was the worlds largest, telescopes. The Kecks in Hawaii.
These guys have quite a racket going and yes anything that allows them to publish a paper, is exciting for them.
Grant money, donor money, NSF money, et al.
Most professional Astronomers are very well paid for doing what most people would consider a “Hobby”.
Stop the coverups. Release this data. Here is what’s approaching us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN4vMBdicBg
The Doomsday Machine. Original Star Trek series.
That's if it's not made of antimatter.
I agree, a lot of “professional astronomers” like to grandstand. Lots of grant hounds. Same goes for those in other sciences.
at least they aren’t blaming climate change for the spin, yet...
okay another rock skipped off of it from another direction changing its spin pattern... Solved!! K boys lets go have a few for lunch!! First round is on me!!
You upset Pele by being on top of Mauna Kea…
The locals have been protesting the TMT for years.
the ones that make the pretty pictures for APOD are aces at grandstanding!! taking parts of other’s work and cutting and pasting it together and calling it their own...
“The predictions from the shape model did not match the data,” Marshall said in a statement.”
So the models scientists create can be wrong?
L
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
