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Originally published in Science Express on 12 October 2006
Science 24 November 2006:
Vol. 314. no. 5803, pp. 1280 - 1283
DOI: 10.1126/science.1133599
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Reports

Dynamical Configuration of Binary Near-Earth Asteroid (66391) 1999 KW4

D. J. Scheeres,1* E. G. Fahnestock,1 S. J. Ostro,2 J.-L. Margot,3 L. A. M. Benner,2 S. B. Broschart,1 J. Bellerose,1 J. D. Giorgini,2 M. C. Nolan,4 C. Magri,5 P. Pravec,6 P. Scheirich,6 R. Rose,2 R. F. Jurgens,2 E. M. De Jong,2 S. Suzuki2

Dynamical simulations of the coupled rotational and orbital dynamics of binary near-Earth asteroid 66391 (1999 KW4) suggest that it is excited as a result of perturbations from the Sun during perihelion passages. Excitation of the mutual orbit will stimulate complex fluctuations in the orbit and rotation of both components, inducing the attitude of the smaller component to have large variation within some orbits and to hardly vary within others. The primary's proximity to its rotational stability limit suggests an origin from spin-up and disruption of a loosely bound precursor within the past million years.

1 Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan, 1320 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109–2140, USA.
2 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109–8099, USA.
3 Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, 304 Space Sciences Building, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
4 Arecibo Observatory, HC03 Box 53995, Arecibo, Puerto Rico 00612, USA.
5 Department of Natural Sciences, University of Maine at Farmington, 173 High Street, Farmington, ME 04938, USA.
6 Astronomical Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Fricova 1, CZ-25165 Ondrejov, Czech Republic.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: scheeres{at}umich.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Radar Imaging of Binary Near-Earth Asteroid (66391) 1999 KW4.
Steven. J. Ostro, J.-L. Margot, L. A. M. Benner, J. D. Giorgini, D. J. Scheeres, E. G. Fahnestock, S. B. Broschart, J. Bellerose, M. C. Nolan, C. Magri, et al. (2006)
Science 314, 1276-1280
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