Contact Binary Asteroids, TNOs, and Comets

compiled by Wm. Robert Johnston
last updated 15 April 2023

Of those asteroids for which shapes have been determined, a number have bilobated or contact binary shapes. These objects likely relate to true binary asteroids (i.e. with physically separated components) in origin.

The following table lists known and suspected contact binary solar system objects: 83 asteroids, 14 trans-Neptunian objects, and 7 comets. "Method" column indicates method used to determine shape; "morphology" column indicates shapes other than strict contact binary. Sources regarding shape are listed below the table, along with other sources (e.g., for rotation periods).

This table does not include a number of asteroids that are known or believed to be genuine binaries, with two distinct components, but with very small separations. These include: near-Earth asteroids (5143) Heracles, (363027) 2000 CO101, (374851) 2006 VV2, and (488453) 1994 XD; main belt asteroid (11264) Claudiomaccone; Jupiter trojans (17365) 1978 VF11 and (29314) Eurydamas; and trans-Neptunian object (139775) 2001 QG298.

asteroiddynamical
type
dimensions (km)rotation
period (h)
methodmorphologyyear
reported
source
numbernameprov. des.ABC
92Undina   main belt asteroid 126     15.941 radar   2010S15a
110Lydia   main belt asteroid 86     10.927 radar   2008S15a
121Hermione   main belt asteroid 250 120 120 5.55128AO imagery   2005M05a
129Antigone   main belt asteroid 113     4.9572 radar/lightcurve   2010S15a
201Penelope   main belt asteroid 105 72 62 3.7474 radar/lightcurve   2015S15a
216Kleopatra   main belt asteroid 217 94 81 5.385 radar "dog bone" 2000O00a
413Edburga 1896 CL main belt asteroid 46 29 25 15.773 radar/lightcurve   2015S15a
624Hektor 1907 XM Jupiter trojan 363 207 207 6.924 lightcurve   1978H78a
678Fredegundis 1909 FS main belt asteroid 40     11.61624radar   2008S08a
758Mancunia 1912 PE main belt asteroid 90     12.7253 radar   2006S10a
779Nina 1914 UB main belt asteroid 81     11.186 radar   2008S15a
1981Midas 1973 EA Apollo asteroid 3.4 1.9 1.3 5.222 radar bilobated 2018B18a, B21a, M22a
2063Bacchus 1977 HB Apollo asteroid 1.11 0.53 0.50 14.904 radar   1998B99a
3169Ostro 1981 LA main belt asteroid 4.6 1.7 1.6 6.503 lightcurve   2007D07a
3752Camillo 1985 PA Apollo asteroid 2.3     37.846 radar   2018B18a
4179Toutatis 1989 AC Apollo asteroid 4.6 2.29 1.92 176 radar bilobated 1992H95a
4450Pan 1987 SY Apollo asteroid 1     56.48 radar   2008B16a
4486Mithra 1987 SB Apollo asteroid 2.35 1.65 1.44 67.5 radar   2000B10a
4769Castalia 1989 PB Apollo asteroid 1.7 1 1 4.095 radar   1990O90a
5836  1993 MF Amor asteroid       4.9543 lightcurve   2017B17a
8567  1996 HW1 Amor asteroid 3.78 1.64 1.49 8.76243radar   2011M11b
11066Sigurd 1992 CC1 Apollo asteroid 4.2 ~2 ~2 8.4958 radar   2004B12a
13553Masaakikoyama 1992 JE Amor asteroid ~2 0.8 58 radar   2022V22a
25143Itokawa 1998 SF36 Apollo asteroid 0.535 0.294 0.209 12.132 SC imagery bilobated 2005D06a
47932  2000 GN171 TNO/Plutino 147     8.329 lightcurve   2017S02a
52387Huitzilopochtli1993 OM7 Amor asteroid 1.22     >26 radar   2003B16a
68346  2001 KZ66 Apollo asteroid 1.51 0.64 0.78 4.98599radar   2003B16a, Z21a
85989  1999 JD6 Aten asteroid 1.8     7.6638 radar "peanut" 2014W14a
85990  1999 JV6 Apollo asteroid 0.73 0.37 0.35 6.53678radar bilobated 2016B16a, R19a
90403  2003 YE45 Apollo asteroid 1 0.5 0.5 505 radar bilobated 2022V22a
96590  1998 XB Aten asteroid 0.9     520 radar   2017B17a
99942Apophis 2004 MN4 Aten asteroid 0.43 0.30 0.26 30.56 radar   2015B15b
126719  2002 CC249 TNO ~210     11.87 lightcurve   2017T17a
137126  1999 CF9 Apollo asteroid 0.9     6.7 radar   2013B15a
141593  2002 HK12 Apollo asteroid 0.6     12.69 radar   2002B15a
143404  2003 BD44 Apollo asteroid       78.64 radar   2017B17a
144411  2004 EW9 Apollo asteroid 2 1 1 49.94 radar   2012B16a
152664  1998 FW4 Apollo asteroid 0.3     17.38 radar   2009B16a
153201  2000 WO107Aten asteroid 0.82 0.38   5.022 radar   2020B20a
163696  2003 EB50 Apollo asteroid       62.06 radar "peanut" 2015B16a
179806  2002 TD66 Apollo asteroid 0.3     9.455 radar   2008B16a
192642  1999 RD32 Apollo asteroid 6     17.08 radar   2012B16a
231937  2001 FO32 Apollo asteroid 1.2 ~0.5 ~0.5 39.905 radar "peanut" 2021B21a
242191  2003 NZ6 Aten asteroid 0.6 0.3 0.3 13.531 radar   2015B16a
242643  2005 NZ6 Apollo asteroid 1.99     >10 radar   2013B15a
275677  2000 RS11 Apollo asteroid 0.698 0.578 0.758 4.444 radar   2014B15a
348306  2005 AY28 Aten asteroid 0.2     6.292 radar   2014B15a
367789  2011 AG5 Apollo asteroid 0.5 0.15   9.44 radar bilobed 2022B23a, N23a
385446Manwe 2003 QW111 TNO/resonant 142     11.8819 lightcurve   2017T19a
388188  2006 DP14 Apollo asteroid 0.4 0.2 0.2 5.77 radar   2014J14a
398188Agni 2010 LE15 Aten asteroid 0.44     21.99 radar   2015B15a
413260  2003 TL4 Aten asteroid 0.4     27.2 radar   2017B17a
418135  2008 AG33 Apollo asteroid 0.33       radar   2022B22a
436774  2012 KY3 Apollo asteroid ~0.4 ~0.25     radar   2023B23b
438661  2008 EP6 Apollo asteroid 0.4     5 radar   2016B16a
443880  2001 UZ16 Apollo asteroid 0.4     13.719 radar   2016B16a
462959  2011 DU Apollo asteroid 0.2     10.290 radar   2017B17a
481394  2006 SF6 Aten asteroid 0.32 0.12 11.4876 radar   2020Z20a, V22a
481817  2008 UL90 Atira asteroid ~0.6       radar   2017B17a
486958Arrokoth 2014 MU69 TNO/cubewano 35 20 10 15.918 occultation, imagingbilobed and lenticular2017S19a
494999  2010 JU39 Aten asteroid >0.16 ~0.1 30.2 radar   2022V22a
496817  1989 VB Apollo asteroid 0.4     14.533 radar   2017B17a
503941  2003 UV11 Apollo asteroid 0.4     18.25 radar   2010B16a
511684  2015 BN509 Apollo asteroid 0.3     5.6713 radar   2017B17a
523804  2000 YF29 Apollo asteroid 0.4     <12 radar   2001B12a
524594  2003 NW1 Apollo asteroid 0.7 0.35 37.7 radar   2022V22a
525268  2004 XL14 Aten asteroid 0.3     24 radar   2006B12a
531074  2012 DX98 TNO/resonant ~150     20.8 lightcurve   2019T19a, T22a
532039  2013 FR28 TNO/resonant ~150       lightcurve   2019T19a
533562  2014 JQ80 TNO/Plutino ~165 ~83 ~63 12.16 lightcurve   2018T18a
554292  2012 TC24 Jupiter trojan ~7       lightcurve   2018D18a
578992  2014 JL80 TNO/Plutino ~170     34.87 lightcurve   2018T18a
609221  2004 VC131 TNO/cubewano ~260     15.7 lightcurve   2019T19a
612342  2002 FC Apollo asteroid 0.7     >40 radar   2002B15a
612620  2003 SQ317 TNO/Haumea family ~380 ~190 ~180 7.210 lightcurve   2017L13a
612813  2004 RF84 Apollo asteroid 2.4     >300 radar   2005B15a
612891  2004 TT357 TNO/2:5 resonance ~140 ~70 ~50 7.79 lightcurve   2017T17b
612929  2005 CR37 Apollo asteroid 1.8 0.8 0.8 5.6 radar   2006B06a
   2002 AY1 Aten asteroid ~0.2     8 radar   2013B15a
   2002 NY40 Apollo asteroid 0.4     19.98 radar   2002T12a
   2004 MU8 TNO/cubewano ~280     >2 lightcurve   2019T19a
   2004 VU75 TNO/cubewano ~200     >3 lightcurve   2019T19a
   2007 TU24 Apollo asteroid 0.3     26 radar   2008B16a
   2007 VD12 Apollo asteroid 0.5     7.418 radar   2007B16a
   2008 SV11 Apollo asteroid 0.8     32.4 radar   2009B16a
   2009 DL46 Apollo asteroid 0.1     42.26 radar   2017B17a
   2010 GT7 Apollo asteroid 0.32 0.22 ~16 radar   2022V22a
   2012 MS4 Apollo asteroid 0.48 0.25 <42 radar   2022V22a
   2012 QG42 Apollo asteroid 0.25     24.22 radar   2013B16a
   2013 JB36 Amor asteroid ~0.25       radar   2013H13a
   2013 JR28 Apollo asteroid 0.1     >10 radar   2013B15a
   2014 HQ124Aten asteroid 0.325    20 radar   2014B15a
   2014 JO25 Apollo asteroid 0.87 0.65   4.5 radar   2017N17b
   2014 JO80 TNO/Plutino ~113 ~66 ~47 6.32 lightcurve   2018T18a
   2014 UF206Amor asteroid 1     6.83 radar   2015B15a
   2015 JD1 Apollo asteroid 0.15 0.1 0.1 5.2116 radar   2020L20a, L22a
   2017 BW Apollo asteroid 0.05     14.559 radar   2017B17a
   2021 LD1 Apollo asteroid 1.2       radar   2021B21b
1PHalley P/1682 Q1 Halley family comet 15.1 8.0 7.7 54 SC imagery "peanut" 1986S91a
8PTuttle P/1858 A1 Jupiter family comet 10 5.75 4.11 11.385 radar   2010H10a
19PBorrelly P/1904 Y2 Jupiter family comet 4.4 1.8   26 SC imagery   2002S04a
45PHonda-Mrkos-PajdusakovaP/1948 X1Jupiter family comet 1.3     7.6 radar   2017U17a
67PChuryumov-GerasimenkoP/1969 R1 Jupiter family comet 4.1 4.1 3.3 12.4043 SC imagery "rubber ducky"2014S15b
103PHartley 2 P/1986 E2 Jupiter family comet 2.3 ~0.8   18.236 SC imagery bi-lobed 2011H11a, T13a
331P-AGibbs 14 P/2012 F5-A comet/active asteroid 0.8     3.26 lightcurve symmetric 2021J21a

Sources:

General sources:


© 2002-2022, 2023 by Wm. Robert Johnston.
Last modified 15 April 2023.
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