Double Lobed Asteroid Torifune

Explanation: Why is this asteroid a double? Earlier this month the Japan ese robotic spacecraft Hayabusa2 shot past asteroid 98943 Torifune and captured pictures . Although previous observations from distant Earth indicated that Torifune was oblong, Hayabusa2 found that Torifune actually has two joined lobes. With a length of about four soccer field s, this space rock frequently comes near the Earth as it orbits the Sun , although it is not a threat. Besides the two lobes, Torifune shows many large boulders , but, surprisingly, no obvious craters , likely because its surface is a pile of rubble . Like asteroid Arrokoth , it appears that each lobe formed separately before colliding and becoming stuck together . Hayabusa2 famously encountered asteroid Ryugu in 2018, and now heads for an encounter in 2031 with 1998 KY26 , a smaller asteroid that rotates unusually fast and might have reservoirs of ice.