YORP Speed Ahead
MAR 08, 2007
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.020922
ScienceNow : For more than a century, astronomers have predicted that the energy released as the sun heats and cools an asteroid could change the rock’s rotation or even speed up its orbital velocity. The effect is so weak that it ought to take centuries to really nudge an asteroid. In a tour de force of precision measurements, however, researchers have now confirmed the phenomenon. With this proof in hand, astronomers should be able to calculate the threats of these rogue bodies more precisely, although it’s unlikely they’ll be able harness the effect to save us from Armageddon.
© 2007 American Institute of Physics
