New technique helps NASA capture asteroid high-res imagesJune 16, 2014 - 10:53 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - A recent upgrade at the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico has helped NASA capture high-res images of the asteroid 2014 HQ124, which passed fairly close by Earth last week, the Register reports. The upgrade allowed the researchers to operate the 305-metre Arecibo in tandem with other radio telescopes to improve the resolution of a technique in which radar signals are sent from one instrument in the pair, to be received by the other. In the case of 2014 HQ124, the 70 meter Goldstone Deep Space Network antenna was the anchor of the pairings, with the “other end” of the connection alternatively Arecibo and a nearby 34-metre antenna 32 kilometers from Goldstone. As NASA explains, the images show views of features as small as 3.75 meters wide just after the asteroid's nearest approach, 1.25 million kilometers away on June 8. The composite images were captured at distances between 1.39 million kilometers and 1.45 million kilometers. Each image in the set represents about 10 minutes of data, and the top row of the collage, demonstrates that operating in tandem with Arecibo yields data “30 times brighter than what Goldstone can produce observing on its own”. NASA says 2014 HQ124 seems to be a “contact binary” – an asteroid with two distinct lobes, indicating that it may once have been two objects that came into shape. Its peanut-like shape is typical of about one-in-six asteroids in the near-Earth population, the agency says. Photo: NASA Top stories Yerevan will host the 2024 edition of the World Congress On Information Technology (WCIT). Rustam Badasyan said due to the lack of such regulation, the state budget is deprived of VAT revenues. Krisp’s smart noise suppression tech silences ambient sounds and isolates your voice for calls. Gurgen Khachatryan claimed that the "illegalities have been taking place in 2020." Partner news Most popular in the section | Putin congratulates Pashinyan’s birthday Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on his birthday on June 1. Opposition motorcade en route to Gyumri for large rally A motorcade of protesters headed by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan is heading to the city of Gyumri. Ruling MPs, Foreign Minister talk Armenia-Azerbaijan processes MOs from the ruling Civil Contract party met with the Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in the Armenian parliament. Russia: Armenia’s frozen membership weakens CSTO position in Caucasus A Russian envoy said any step that could alienate the CSTO member states from each other is “deeply wrong”. |