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A unique “double asteroid” was photographed by a powerful telescope as it whizzed by Earth last month at over 43,000 mph. The asteroid, classified as 1999 KW4, is made up of two components — a larger body orbited by a smaller one separated by about 1.6 miles. It got as close as 3.2 million miles to Earth on May 25 — about 14 times the distance from Earth to the Moon, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) said in a news release Monday. The double asteroid, which has an orbit well known to scientists, is not an impact threat to Earth,...

Asteroid (66391) 1999 KW4 is actually a double asteroid or a binary asteroid...composed of one large asteroid orbited by a smaller moon...about a third of a mile wide and orbits around the larger body about once every 16 hours. The Las Cumbres Observatory describes 1999 KW4 as “slightly squashed at the poles and with a mountain ridge around the equator, which runs all the way around the asteroid. This ridge gives the primary an appearance similar to a walnut or a spinning top.” While 1999 KW4 is classified as a “Potentially Hazardous Asteroid” by the Minor Planet Center, it should...