Check out this image of the 1998 KY26 asteroid from the Subaru telescope. It’s not exactly beautiful, but it’s not meant to be. The convincing thing about this picture is not its attractiveness, but the context. This tiny asteroid is the next target for Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft.
Hayabusa2 was launched in 2014 to meet with the asteroid Ryugu. It successfully took a sample from Ryugu and brought it back to Earth in a capsule in December 2020. Now he is heading towards his second goal, 1998 KY26.
1998 KY26 is a near-earth object of the Apollo group. It’s tiny, only about 30 feet in diameter. It orbits the Sun approximately every 16 months at a distance between 1 and 1.5 AU. During its orbit, it gets as close to the earth as the moon, which makes it an ideal destination for visits.
1998 KY26 is also a water-rich asteroid, making it a fascinating target. It’s an X-type asteroid, which is basically a category for different types of asteroids with similar spectra but different compositions. Scientists also believe it is more of a monolithic asteroid than a debris-heap asteroid, like Ryugu and Bennu recently studied.
In 2002, 1998, KY26 was NASA’s astronomy image of the day, even though the image was a simulation mostly made up of radar observations.
1998 KY26 is a water-rich asteroid owned by the Apollo Group that is rich in water. Hayabusa2 is on the way to a rendezvous. Photo credit: NASA, JPL, courtesy Steve Ostro
These new images from the Subaru telescope are helping to constrain the asteroid’s orbit parameters. The VLT made similar observations.
Animation from three (out of five) pictures taken during the observations. The point of light (marked with two lines) moving from left to right near the center of the image is 1998 KY26. The field of view is 30 x 15 arc seconds. (Image credit: NAOJ)
“We successfully photographed the next target asteroid for Hayabusa2. We hope that this data will facilitate Hayabusa2’s new mission, ”says Dr. Michitoshi Yoshida, Director of Subaru Telescope.
“After Hayabusa2 brought its re-entry capsule back to Earth, it made its way to a new target, a small asteroid called the 1998 KY26. This will be the first mission for this tiny asteroid, so it is very important in terms of planetary research and planetary defense (protecting the earth from collisions with star objects). These Subaru telescope observations will not only become very important dates for Hayabusa2’s extended mission. They will also give a boost to future missions. We are grateful to everyone at Subaru Telescope. “Said Dr. Makoto Yoshikawa, the Hayabusa2 Mission Manager at ISAS, JAXA.
Today, January 5th, Hayabusa2 turned on its three ion motors to begin the journey to the meeting point with the 1998 KY26. It will arrive at the tiny asteroid in July 2031 – the smallest ever visited. On the way, it will also pass another asteroid called 98943 2001 CC21 in July 2026. This asteroid is a relatively unusual type L asteroid. Between 2021 and 2025, Hayabusa2 will also conduct exoplanet observations.
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