216 Kleopatra is a Main belt asteroid that was discovered by Johann Palisa on April 10, 1880 in Pola. It is named after Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt.

Dog bone shaped asteroid Kleopatra

Kleopatra has one of the most bizarre shapes in the solar system. By bouncing radar signals off the asteroid, a team of astronomers at the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico were able to develop a computer model of its shape, and discovered that it looks like a dog's bone. The best explanation is that two similarly sized asteroids that have collided and stuck together instead of breaking apart. Another such binary may be 624 Hektor.

Kleopatra is a relatively large asteroid, measuring 217 × 94 × 81 km. In composition it is an M-type asteroid, meaning that it is metallic, composed of nickel-iron. It is believed to be a loosely packed, porous object.

External links

• Astronomers Catch Images of Giant Metal Dog Bone Asteroid – NASA article
• An Asteroid for the Dogs

References

• The Asteroid Orbital Elements Database
• Minor Planet Discovery Circumstances
• Asteroid Lightcurve Data File