Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 13 April 2007:
Vol. 316. no. 5822, p. 169
DOI: 10.1126/science.316.5822.169f
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

This Week in Science

Differences in the pressure of warm sunlight being reflected and re-radiated from the surface of an asteroid during its orbit can change how it spins. This process, called the Yarkovsky-O'Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack (YORP) effect, has been predicted but not seen directly. Two reports describe the detection of the YORP effect acting on the near-Earth asteroid 54509 (2000 PH5); see the Perspective by Rubincam and Paddack. Lowry et al. (p. 272, published online 8 March) monitored the reflected optical light from the asteroid to show how the spin rate of the asteroid is decreasing. Taylor et al. (p. 274, published online 8 March) have mapped the asteroid's shape using radar observations to show that this slowing is precisely as predicted by the YORP effect.




To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)