New data on an Arjuna, an asteroid that could safely collide with Earth

The study of the physical properties and dynamic evolution of the object Fiscal year 2023₃ The study, carried out by the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) together with the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC), expands the little knowledge we have about it Arjuna, which form the asteroid belt closest to Earth. The name comes from the Hindu hero Arjuna, who appears in a Sanskrit poem.

Discovered in April 2023 by other researchers in the recently published study Astronomy and astrophysics proposes that 2023 FY₃ It is actually a fragment of a larger Arjuna.

“Now we know what the composition of its surface is, we have a pretty good idea of ​​its size, we know that it rotates rapidly and that helps us classify it as a possible fragment of a larger asteroid, and we know it too. “that it was exposed to an orbital resonance with our planet,” explains Raúl de la Fuente MarcosResearcher at the Department of Earth Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics I at UCM.

The orbital period of this group of asteroids around the Sun is very similar to that of the Earth and is 365 days. Although its small size, about 5 meters, is enough for the 2023 fiscal year₃ cannot be considered a threat to our planet, but available data suggests that it could collide with Earth in the next 100 years, according to researchers.

“With these results, we want to draw the attention of the international scientific community to objects of intrinsic interest in the fields Planetary defense (Some of these objects could collide with our planet in the future) and the scientific and commercial use (obtaining samples for analysis or for space mining projects) of asteroids easily accessible from our planet,” concludes de la Fuente Marcos.

Near-Earth Asteroid Project

This study is part of a long-term project led by the IAC researcher Julia de Leon and whose goal is the detailed study of recently discovered near-Earth objects that are at risk of colliding with our planet. “We are particularly interested in asteroids with a size between 100 m and 1 km, i.e. those that could cause regional damage in the hypothetical event of an impact,” explains de León.

The dynamic part of the study was carried out at the UCM numerical simulations of N-Body within the AEGORA research group of the Faculty of Mathematical Sciences. The observation part (spectrometry and photometry) was carried out from the observatories of the Canary Islands.

Data from the GTC and the 2 m Twin Telescope

The spectroscopic observations were carried out at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory Gran Telescopio Canarias (Terms and Conditions)10.4 m. “We need large aperture telescopes like the GTC to be able to study the composition of objects as early as the 2023 fiscal year₃“comments de León.

The study of the object's light curve was carried out from the Teide Observatory to the recently inaugurated observatory Double two-meter telescope (Two-meter twin telescope, TTT, for its acronym in English). The duration of the analysis was two months, between March and April 2023, after the discovery was published.

In addition to researchers from the UCM and IAC, other researchers from the University of La Laguna, GRANTECAN (Gran Telescopio Canarias) and the company Light Bridges also participated in this study.

Star trails above the TTT system (Two-meter Twin Telescope, Teide Observatory), which was used to carry out the photometric observations in the 2023 financial year. / JC Casado