Asteroid (234) Barbara is an unusual object, a denizen of the main belt that may be a binary. The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope Interferometer is able to piece together two bodies, with diameters of 37 and 21 kilometers respectively, separated by a bit over 20 kilometers. But as seen from Earth, the objects seem to overlap, so we don't know whether this is a true binary or an asteroid in the shape of a giant peanut. The former would be more interesting, for if we can calculate the orbits of these objects and combine them with diameter measurements, we'll learn about their density. This is why Sebastiano Ligori (INAF-Torino, Italy) calls Barbara "...a high priority target for further observations." Ligori is one of the researchers who used the combined light from two of the Very Large Telescope's 8.2-meter instruments to make these interferometric studies, creating a view as sharp as a single telescope whose diameter is as large as the separation between the...
Tightening the Asteroid Focus
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