Asteroid Juno spotted traveling through space

Extraordinary new images of Juno, the third asteroid ever discovered, have been created with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), displaying the rotation of the asteroid as it travels through space.   "In contrast to optical telescopes, which capture the reflected light from the Sun, the new ALMA images show the actual millimeter-wavelength light emitted by the asteroid," said Todd Hunter, an astronomer with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Charlottesville, Va.  Since the ALMA is able to view the thermal glow of Juno, we will now be capable of learning about more specific features of the asteroid.  10 images have been created depicting Juno’s rotation from approximately 295 million kilometers from earth.  In November of 2018, the asteroid will be much closer to the earth than it has been in previous created images, so the resolution and quality of the images will only get better during that time.  "This new observation clearly demonstrates that ALMA will be a very powerful tool for studying asteroids," said NRAO astronomer Arielle Moullet. "At its highest resolution, ALMA is powerful enough to resolve the surface of many asteroids."

Citation:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150407095348.htm