"This discovery has extremely important implications for ideas about the origins of near-Earth asteroids and the processes responsible for their physical properties," said Cornell University and Arecibo astronomer Michael C. Nolan.
It was originally found in 2001, but new observations with the radar telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico reveal it is three gravitationally bound rocks. The main rock is spherical and about 1.5 miles (2 kilometers) wide. Another is about half that size. The smallest is about 1,000 feet across, or about the size of the
Arecibo telescope, astronomers said.
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