The National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG) announced that a research team affiliated with it managed to discover four new astronomical objects in the past two months with the 74-inch Qatameya astronomical telescope.
“The number of discoveries has increased to nine bodies during the past six months, thanks to cooperation with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the European Space Agency,” an NRIAG statement reads.
These objects were registered on the International Astronomical Union website this year.
The acting head of NRIAG, Taha Rabeh, said that one of the most prominent observations made using the Qattameya Astronomical Observatory telescope and the satellite and space debris monitoring station was the study of the asteroid (MK 2024) which approached Earth on June 29.
Its width ranged between 120 and 260 meters.
The research team was able to successfully track the asteroid and calculate its rotation time around itself, “which amounted to 47 minutes, which is consistent with the results reached by the US Space Agency.”