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FILE – This artist\u2019s illustration depicts 2025 MN45 \u2014 the fastest-rotating asteroid with a diameter over 500 meters that scientists have ever found. The discovery was made using data from the NSF\u2013DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.<\/p>\n
NSF\u2013DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory\/NOIRLab\/SLAC\/AURA\/P. Marenfeld \/ NSF’s NOIRLab<\/p>\n
Astronomers at the University of Washington recently discovered a record-breaking asteroid using early images from the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile.<\/p>\n
The team recently reported the fastest-spinning asteroid of its size to date. The finding was a surprise to the astronomers, who spotted it using test images from a telescope at the observatory.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve known that the Rubin Observatory was going to break lots of records,\u201d said Sarah Greenstreet, the National Science Foundation astronomer and UW affiliate professor who led the team. \u201cBut to do it in some of the very, very first test images that were taken is quite incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n
In early January, they published<\/a> the first peer-reviewed study <\/a>to use key data from the observatory. Greenstreet\u2019s team reported a large asteroid spinning at record speed for its size. There\u2019s no chance it will hit Earth; it\u2019s about 200 million miles away from us, in the asteroid belt that sits between Mars and Jupiter. And it\u2019s huge.<\/p>\n \u201cThis asteroid, for some context, is about the length of eight football fields, or roughly twice as long as the Empire State Building,\u201d Greenstreet said. \u201cAnd it makes one complete spin in less than two minutes. So it\u2019s quite wild to have this giant asteroid spinning so rapidly.\u201d<\/p>\n She said the fast rotation tells scientists the asteroid is made of material that has a lot of strength, which keeps it from being pulled apart.<\/p>\n And, Greenstreet said, the team\u2019s discovery has been met with excitement about the observatory\u2019s potential to study a previously unreachable part of the asteroid population.<\/p>\n \u201cThis telescope is going to allow us to see things that are farther away than we\u2019ve ever been able to see before,\u201d Greenstreet said. \u201cIt has the largest digital camera ever constructed, that\u2019s about the size of a small car.\u201d<\/p>\n UW astronomers and engineers are instrumental to the Rubin Observatory\u2019s operations in Chile, she added: they develop the software that helps it detect moving solar system objects.<\/p>\n People can get involved with the observatory\u2019s citizen science projects<\/a> to help scientists comb through data and find new comets.<\/p>\n Anna Marie Yanny is a reporter with KNKX.<\/a><\/p>\n This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.<\/p>\n