Goldstone Planetary Radar Observes Peanut-Shaped Asteroid

This series of radar images obtained by the Goldstone Solar System Radar near Barstow, California, on Aug. 18, 2024, shows the asteroid 2024 JV33 shortly before its close approach with Earth. The images were captured when the asteroid was at a distance of 2.8 million miles (4.6 million kilometers), about 12 times the distance between the Moon and Earth.

Discovered by the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey in Tucson, Arizona, on May 4, the near-Earth asteroid's shape resembles that of a peanut – with two rounded lobes, one lobe larger than the other. Scientists used the radar images to determine that it is about 980 feet (300 meters) long and that its length is about double its width. Asteroid 2024 JV33 rotates once every seven hours.

Radar is the principal technique for discovering such asteroids, which are called contact binaries. Dozens of them have been imaged by Goldstone, which is part of NASA's Deep Space Network. At least 14% of near-Earth asteroids larger than about 660 feet (200 meters) have a contact binary shape. Asteroid 2024 JV33 has an elongated orbit similar to that of many comets that are strongly influenced by the gravity of Jupiter. While no comet-like activity has been observed, the possibility remains that the asteroid may be an inactive cometary nucleus.

The asteroid is classified as potentially hazardous, but it does not pose a hazard to Earth for the foreseeable future. These Goldstone measurements have greatly reduced the uncertainties in the asteroid's distance from Earth and in its future motion for many decades.

The Goldstone Solar System Radar Group is supported by NASA's Near-Earth Object Observations Program within the Planetary Defense Coordination Office at the agency's headquarters in Washington. Managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Deep Space Network receives programmatic oversight from Space Communications and Navigation program office within the Space Operations Mission Directorate, also at NASA Headquarters.

More information about planetary radar and near-Earth objects can be found at: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroid-watch