Thread by @weatherindia

Astronomers have discovered an #asteroid that revolves around our Sun faster than all other #spacerocks! Named 2021 PH2, it is approximately 1 km wide.

📸: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva

This newly discovered asteroid completes one orbit around the Sun in just 113 Earth days. This is the shortest orbital period of any #cosmicobject in our solar system except #Mercury, which takes only 88 days!

In Pic: Mercury’s solar transit
📸: NASA/Bill Ingalls

This asteroid was initially positioned in the main #AsteroidBelt between Mars and Jupiter but got pulled closer to the Sun by the gravitational influence of inner planets.

📸: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/DOE/DECam/AURA/S.S. Sheppard, Carnegie Institution of Science

Though its exact location is yet to be decoded, the high orbital inclination suggests that it could be an extinct comet that travelled from the outer realms of our solar system!

The rock was first spotted earlier this month, during the twilight hours, by Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution of Science. He used the Dark Energy Camera on top of the Víctor M. Blanco Telescope.

Astronomers wish to study this rock further, but that may only be possible next year, as the asteroid is likely to enter solar conjunction, i.e., move 'behind' the Sun.

📸: NASA/SDO, AIA

Read the entire story here: weather.com/en-IN/india/sp…