Collection of images from the WISE spacecraft of the asteroid 2305 King (IMAGE)

American Physical Society

Collection of images from the WISE spacecraft of the asteroid 2305 King

Caption

This is a collection of images from the WISE spacecraft of the asteroid 2305 King, which is named after Martin Luther King Jr. The asteroid appears as a string of orange dots because this is a set of exposures that have been added together to show its motion across the sky. These infrared pictures have been color-coded so that we can perceive them with the human eye: 3.4 microns is represented as blue; 4.6 microns is green, 12 microns is yellow, and 22 microns is shown as red. From the WISE data, we can compute that the asteroid is about 12.7 kilometers in diameter, with a 22% reflectivity, indicating a likely stony composition.

Credit

NASA

Usage Restrictions

None

License

Licensed content

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.