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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0The Astronomical Journal

Photometric Study of the Fastest-rotating Near-Earth Asteroid 2024 XA1

  • Xiliang Zhang1,2
  • Xiangyu Fan1,2
  • Man-To Hui3
  • Marco Micheli4
  • Maxime Devogèle5
  • Yongxiong Zhang6
  • Ling Wang1,2
6 affiliations
  1. 1Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
  2. 2University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS)
  3. 3Chinese Academy of Sciences
  4. 4Planetary Defence Office
  5. 5European Space Agency
  6. 6Guangzhou College of Technology and Business
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Abstract

Near-Earth asteroid 2024 XA1 was discovered on 2024 December 3 at 05:55 UT by the 2.3 m Bok Telescope of the University of Arizona. At 07:50 UT on the same day, subsequent orbit refinement confirmed a 100% impact probability, with atmospheric entry predicted at approximately 16:15 UT over eastern Siberia. We obtained observations of 2024 XA1 with the Lijiang 2.4 m telescope in the final ∼1 hr prior to its atmospheric entry. Due to the fact that sidereal tracking was used, the asteroid appears as a long bright trail in each exposure. We developed a method to extract light curves from asteroid trails in such trailed images and evaluate the reconstruction quality by comparing the observed trail image with the model image generated from the recovered light curve. Applying this approach to 2024 XA1 we successfully extracted its light curve. We found that the light curves of 2024 XA1 exhibit a double-peaked structure with two maxima and two minima per cycle. We derived a double-peaked rotation period of P rot = 1.6 3 − 0.04 + 0.06 s and a peak-to-peak relative flux amplitude of about 46%. This period would make 2024 XA1 the fastest-rotating near-Earth object currently known.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{zhang2026photometric,
  title = {{Photometric Study of the Fastest-rotating Near-Earth Asteroid 2024 XA1}},
  author = {Xiliang Zhang and Xiangyu Fan and Man-To Hui and Marco Micheli and Maxime Devogèle and Yongxiong Zhang and Ling Wang},
  journal = {The Astronomical Journal},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.3847/1538-3881/aeaa5d},
  url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/aeaa5d},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Photometric Study of the Fastest-rotating Near-Earth Asteroid 2024 XA1
AU  - Xiliang Zhang
AU  - Xiangyu Fan
AU  - Man-To Hui
AU  - Marco Micheli
AU  - Maxime Devogèle
AU  - Yongxiong Zhang
AU  - Ling Wang
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/16
JO  - The Astronomical Journal
DO  - 10.3847/1538-3881/aeaa5d
UR  - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/aeaa5d
AB  - Near-Earth asteroid 2024 XA1 was discovered on 2024 December 3 at 05:55 UT by the 2.3 m Bok Telescope of the University of Arizona. At 07:50 UT on the same day, subsequent orbit refinement confirmed a 100% impact probability, with atmospheric entry predicted at approximately 16:15 UT over eastern Siberia. We obtained observations of 2024 XA1 with the Lijiang 2.4 m telescope in the final ∼1 hr prior to its atmospheric entry. Due to the fact that sidereal tracking was used, the asteroid appears as a long bright trail in each exposure. We developed a method to extract light curves from asteroid trails in such trailed images and evaluate the reconstruction quality by comparing the observed trail image with the model image generated from the recovered light curve. Applying this approach to 2024 XA1 we successfully extracted its light curve. We found that the light curves of 2024 XA1 exhibit a double-peaked structure with two maxima and two minima per cycle. We derived a double-peaked rotation period of P rot = 1.6 3 − 0.04 + 0.06 s and a peak-to-peak relative flux amplitude of about 46%. This period would make 2024 XA1 the fastest-rotating near-Earth object currently known.
SN  - 0004-6256
SN  - 1538-3881
ER  -