Arecibo Observatory scientists help unravel surprise asteroid mystery

When asteroid 2019 OK suddenly appeared barreling toward Earth on July 25, 2019, Luisa Fernanda Zambrano-Marin and the team at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico jumped into action.

After getting an alert, the radar scientists zoned in on the asteroid, which was coming from Earth's blind spot - solar opposition.

The asteroid made Arecibo Observatory scientists help unravel surprise asteroid mystery news because it appeared to come out of nowhere and was traveling fast.

Zambrano-Marin's findings were published in the Planetary Science Journal June 10, just a few weeks before the world observes Asteroid Day, which is June 30 and promotes global awareness to help educate the public about these potential threats.

The data indicates that the asteroid is likely a C-type, which are made up of clay and silicate rocks, or S-type, which are made up of silicate and nickel-iron.

The OSIRIS REx mission, which includes UCF Pegasus Professor of Physics Humberto Campins, is headed back to Earth with a sample of asteroid Bennu, which gave scientists a few surprises.

A new mission - NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission - aims to demonstrate the ability to redirect an asteroid using the kinetic energy of a projectile.

Zambrano-Marin and the rest of the team at Arecibo are working on providing the scientific community with more information about the many kinds of asteroids in the solar system to help come up with contingency plans.

This week the team at the Arecibo Observatory is holding a series of special events as part of the Asteroid Day awareness campaign.

The timing couldn't be better as there are five known asteroids from the size of a car to a Boeing 747 that will be buzzing Earth before Asteroid Day, according to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that keeps track of the celestial bodies for NASA. The closest approach is on June 25 with an object coming within 475,000 miles of Earth.