NASA researchers in the US have discovered ‘one of the most elongated asteroids’ ever seen by their planetary radar. The asteroid, according to the space agency, passed safely by Earth earlier this month, but what really struck their eye was its peculiar shape, which they characterised as oblong.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, US, was closely monitoring the asteroid and made ‘useful observations to help estimate its size, rotation, surface details, and, most importantly, form,’ according to a press release from the space agency.
2011 AG5 is the name of the asteroid in question, which came quite close to Earth on February 3 and allowed researchers to take a close-up look at the celestial object, which was found in 2011. T
he asteroid is said to be 1600 feet long and about 500 feet wide and its dimensions are comparable to the Empire State Building.
The celestial object was seen by the powerful 230-foot (70-metre) Goldstone Solar System Radar antenna dish at the Deep Space Network’s facility near Barstow, California, revealing the dimensions of this extremely elongated asteroid, said NASA.
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