Hayabusa2

Scientists Puzzle Over Accelerating Asteroid as Japan’s Hayabusa2 Races In

Astronomers are confronting an unusual case in deep space: asteroid 1998 KY26 appears to be accelerating in a way that current observations cannot fully explain. The object is now a target for Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft, which is closing in on the small near-Earth asteroid as researchers try to determine whether the motion reflects a dark-comet-like effect, an unusual spin state, or something else entirely.