9969 Braille
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Braille3.jpg
9969 Braille is a small Mars-crosser asteroid that was discovered on May 27, 1992 by Eleanor F. Helin and Kenneth J. Lawrence at Palomar Observatory and named after Louis Braille, inventor of the reading system for the blind. Its shape is highly elongated; it measures 2.2 by 0.6 kilometres. Braille is a V-type asteroid, meaning that its composition is similar to that of the much larger asteroid 4 Vesta; possibly, Braille is a chunk of Vesta that was blown off in an impact.
Most of our information about Braille comes from the Deep Space 1 spacecraft, which flew past the asteroid at a distance of 26 kilometres on July 29, 1999. Unfortunately, problems with the spacecraft's camera meant that the images are blurry and indistinct; however, they clearly show Braille's unusual shape.
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