1620 Geographos
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1620_geographos-05.jpg
The asteroid 1620 Geographos was discovered on September 14, 1951 at the Palomar Observatory by Albert Wilson and Rudolph Minkowski. The asteroid was originally given the provisional designation of 1951 RA. Its name means geographer and it was named in honour of the National Geographic Society.
Geographos is a near-Earth object and a Mars-crosser asteroid. In 1994, during the asteroid's closest approach to Earth in two centuries, a radar study of it was conducted by the Deep Space Network at Goldstone, California. The resultant images show Geographos to be the most elongated object in the solar system; it measures 5.1x1.8 km.
Geographos is an S-type asteroid, meaning that it is highly reflective and composed of nickel-iron mixed with iron- and magnesium-silicates.
External links
- NASA Asteroid Radar Research - Radar-Detected Asteroids: 1620 Geographos (http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroids/1620_Geographos/geographos.html)
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