A huge asteroid set to sail past Earth on Friday has its own moon, NASA scientists have just discovered.
Researchers obtained a series of radar images of the approaching asteroid 1998 QE2 late Wednesday using the Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif. Images captured over the course of two hours showed that the asteroid is actually a binary system.
The main space rock is the size of nine ocean liners, roughly 1.7 miles across, and the satellite that orbits it is estimated to be 2,000 feet wide, according to NASA.
Binary systems are quite common among near-Earth asteroids. Of space rocks at least 655 feet across, about 16 percent are binary or triple systems, NASA officials said.
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