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Japan's Hayabusa Is Racing Toward a Mysterious Object in Space
Gizmodo • • science
Key Points:
- Japan’s Hayabusa2 probe, after successfully collecting samples from asteroid Ryugu in 2020, is on an extended mission to rendezvous with the small near-Earth object 1998 KY26 in 2031, which poses unique challenges due to its size and rapid rotation.
- 1998 KY26 exhibits unusual accelerations that cannot be explained by gravity or typical radiation effects, leading to speculation that it might be a dark comet rather than a traditional asteroid.
- New research published in Icarus challenges the comet hypothesis by showing that 1998 KY26’s temperature is too high to retain buried ice, which would be necessary for comet-like outgassing to cause its acceleration.
- The study suggests 1998 KY26 may be a water-depleted asteroid, leaving its anomalous acceleration unexplained and adding to the mystery that Hayabusa2 aims to investigate upon arrival.
