asteroid 1998 KY26 unusual acceleration, Digi Mart USA News: Classified as an Apollo-class asteroid, 1998 KY26 is a small celestial object about 11 meters in diameter whose orbit crosses Earth’s. Astronomers detected an unusual acceleration in its motion in 2023, prompting scientists to examine its nature more closely.
One proposed explanation was that the object could be a dark comet, a type of body without a tail visible through telescopes that can undergo non-gravitational acceleration, possibly caused by the sublimation of ice. This idea could account for the altered orbit of 1998 KY26.
However, researchers studying the asteroid’s temperature found that even its coldest regions average at least -78 °F (-61 °C) as it orbits the Sun. According to the report, water ice would need temperatures below approximately -198 °F (-128 °C) to survive over long periods, which casts doubt on ice sublimation as the cause.
The report also notes that if ice were driving the acceleration, its supply would be exhausted in just 62 years, yet the asteroid appears to be several billion years old. This mismatch adds to the puzzle surrounding the object.
Researchers may get more answers from Japan’s Hayabusa2 probe, which is expected to reach 1998 KY26 in July 2031. The spacecraft is planned to study the asteroid using its ONC-W and ONC-T cameras and its Lidar laser altimeter.
