The asteroid dog bone Kleopatra makes an attractive portrait

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Eight different images of an elongated gray and white object, larger at the ends, on a black background.
View larger. | Astronomers captured these images of the asteroid 216 Kleopatra, the dog bone asteroid, at different times between 2017 and 2019. They launched this compound on September 9, 2021. The images show how we see different angles of the shape of Kleopatra’s dog bone as the asteroid rotates. Image through the very large ESO telescope in Chile.

216 Kleopatra, also known as the dog bone asteroid, could paws-ibly be the most beautiful object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It was one of the first asteroids to be discovered, in 1880. But astronomers labeled it as those of dogs 20 years ago, when radar observations at the Arecibo Observatory revealed his two lobes and his thick “neck”. Astronomer Franck Marchis of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, led the team that captured the sharpest, most detailed images of Kleopatra (at the top).

The Southern European Observatory released the images this week (September 9, 2021) and said the new observations made astronomers realize this. looking for the asteroid is a bit rufa around the edges. Maybe it’s nothing more than a big pile of rubble that has lost some of its pebbles, but has gained two moons.

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Astronomers published two new studies on Kleopatra, one on May 19 and the other on August 16, in the peer-reviewed journal. Astronomy and astrophysics.

Scientists used ESO’s Very Large Telescope to see Kleopatra, which, at much closer, reaches 200 million kilometers from Earth. It’s like trying to see a golf ball 40 miles away.

The dog-bone asteroid falls through space

ESO’s Very Large Telescope took the images shown here between 2017 and 2019. The range of images allows astronomers to see the asteroid as it falls through space, revealing different angles and allowing them create 3D models of Kleopatra. They found that one of the lobes is larger than the other. They also found that the total length of the asteroid was 270 km. For size comparison, scientists created images of what Kleopatra would look like on Earth over Italy and Chile.

Marchis, the team leader of one of the studios, described the value of studying an unusual object like Kleopatra:

Kleopatra is truly a unique body in our solar system. Science is advancing a lot thanks to the study of strange values. I think Kleopatra is one of those, and understanding this multiple asteroid complex can help us learn more about our solar system.

Dog bone shape floating over the view of Italy from orbit, with the curve of the Earth in the background.
To compare the asteroid dog bone Kleopatra with Earth, ESO created this composite image showing the size of the asteroid if it were located in northern Italy. Image via ESO.
Asteroid high canine bone on orbital view of Chile with globe curve in the background.
Another size comparison shows Kleopatra hovering over Chile. The Very Large ESO Telescope, which took the new images, is located in the Atacama Desert in Chile. Image via ESO.

Kleopatra and her moons

Kleopatra, so named by the Egyptian queen, is not alone as she orbits the sun around her asteroid belt. Two moons orbit around it: Alex Helios and Cleo Selena, who scientists named after the queen’s real-life twin brothers.

Miroslav Brož of Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, was the lead author of the other study on Kleopatra. His team used the new observations to find the correct orbits of the moons. Previous studies produced orbits that did not care about observations. Brož said:

This had to be resolved, because if the orbits of the moons were wrong, everything would go wrong, including the mass of Kleopatra.

His team solved the problem using new observations and models to discover the gravitational influence of Kleopatra on the motion of the moons. Once the orbits of the satellites were defined, astronomers could calculate the mass of Kleopatra. They found that their mass was 35% lower than previous estimates. With volume and mass estimates, scientists could estimate the density, which was also lower than previously thought.

Now scientists think that Kleopatra is not much more than a pile of rubble, formed from material that suffered a giant impact. They realized that if the asteroid rotated much faster, it would begin to crumble. In fact, the Marchis team believes that this is how Kleopatra’s moons were born, from pieces of the asteroid that were torn off in small impacts. The stripped pebbles finally came together to form the two moons.

Dog bone shaped asteroid with two dotted moons on either side.
View larger. | ESO’s Very Large Telescope made images of Kleopatra and her 2 moons in July 2017. The moons, which scientists named AlexHelios and CleoSelene, are the points in the upper right and lower left corners. Scientists had to remove glare from their images to reveal the moons. Image via ESO.

Future observations

Current observations, made with the very large ESO telescope, used advanced adaptive optical systems. These systems correct the effect of the Earth’s atmosphere, which would otherwise distort and blur the resulting image.

Scientists are excited about the prospects for ESO’s new observatory, the Extremely Large Telescope, scheduled for 2027. As the “world’s largest eye,” it will be ideal for imagining Kleopatra and other challenging objects. As Marchis said:

I can’t wait to point the ELT towards Kleopatra to see if there are more moons and perfect their orbits to detect small changes.

Conclusion: Kleopatra, the dog bone asteroid, reveals its size and composition in new images published by ESO.

Source: an advanced multipolar model for the triple Kleopatra system (216)

Source: (216) Kleopatra, a critically rotating low-density M-type asteroid

Via ESO

Kelly Kizer Whitt

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About the author:

Kelly Kizer Whitt has been a scientific writer specializing in astronomy for more than two decades. He began his career at Astronomy magazine and has regularly collaborated on AstronomyToday and the Sierra Club, among other outlets. His children’s picture book, Solar System Forecast, was published in 2012. He has also written a dystopian novel for young people entitled A Different Sky. When he doesn’t read or write about astronomy or look at the stars, he enjoys traveling to national parks, creating crossword puzzles, running, tennis, and paddleboarding. Kelly lives with her family in Wisconsin.

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