2020 BX<SUB>12</SUB>—The Last Binary Asteroid Discovered at Arecibo

Zambrano-Marin, Luisa Fernanda; Marshall, Sean E.; Howell, Ellen S.; de León, Julia; Pinilla-Alonso, Noemi; Virkki, Anne K.; Giorgini, Jon; Venditti, Flaviane C. F.
Bibliographical reference

The Planetary Science Journal

Advertised on:
4
2025
Number of authors
8
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
Radar observations of 2020 BX12 conducted with the S-band planetary radar system (2380 MHz, 12.6 cm) at the Arecibo Observatory on 2020 February 4 and 5 revealed that this potentially hazardous asteroid is a binary system. Spectroscopic observations with the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias on 2024 February 16 indicate that 2020 BX12 is an S-complex asteroid (Bus–DeMeo taxonomy). We present the results of shape modeling and orbit fitting based on the radar observations. The system consists of a primary of a diameter ∼205 m and a ∼50 m secondary revolving around their common center of mass. This size places the system among the smallest 10% of known binary asteroid systems. The orbital period of the system is >40 hr. The semimajor axis is >375 m. This binary system, like many other binary near-Earth asteroids, features a spheroidal primary spinning near the breakup point, indicating likely formation through spin-up and fission and migration from the main belt. 2020 BX12 was the last binary asteroid discovered at Arecibo.
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Small Bodies of the Solar System
This project studies the physical and compositional properties of the so-called minor bodies of the Solar System, that includes asteroids, icy objects, and comets. Of special interest are the trans-neptunian objects (TNOs), including those considered the most distant objects detected so far (Extreme-TNOs or ETNOs); the comets and the comet-asteroid
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