Friday, February 15, 2008

2001 SN 263 (a number to remember)

2001 SN 263 is the name of an asteroid which, they just discovered, is actually three bodies orbiting each other. In the words of spaceref news:

First near-Earth triple asteroid discovered by Arecibo Observatory astronomers – a mere 7
million miles from Earth
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=24775

Once considered just your average single asteroid, 2001 SN263 has now been revealed as the
first near-Earth triple asteroid ever found. The asteroid - with three bodies orbiting each other -
was discovered this week by astronomers at the sensitive radar telescope at Cornell University's
Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.

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