Starship Asterisk*

I basically agree with Harry. The asteroid looks, to me, to be two smaller asteroids that came together softly. The smooth areas appear to be a talus of sorts that might have been lightly shaken into place at the time of the gentle impact. Both sub-asteroids seem to be nothing more than rubble piles held together by a very weak gravity! The conjoining could be very recent, explaining the lack of craters. Perhaps old craters were rattled out of existance by the bump of the contact that also created the smooth sections. Happy New Year. <><

I looked at the Nove 16th and 21st APOD pictures of the asteroid. Are they the same asteroid from different sides views. If so, the one side looks spherical. Can this possibly be a planet that has been torn apart and we are seeing the inside in one picture and the outer smoother side in the other?

And, there is another opinion.
Thanks Harry.

Norval

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051228.html

The two ends of the Asteroid are impacted either by leading or by tailing.

Leaving material to settle in the centre.

The creaters formed are in time covered by the weak structure of the asteroid being rubble rather than rock.



Happy New Year