Overview
- The Astrophysical Journal Letters paper analyzed nine nights of April–May 2025 Rubin observations, marking the first peer-reviewed use of the LSST camera.
- Asteroid 2025 MN45, about 710 meters across in the main belt, completes a rotation in roughly 113 seconds.
- Of roughly 75 measured objects, 19 exceed the main-belt spin barrier, including 16 with periods between about 13 minutes and 2.2 hours and three under five minutes.
- Modeling indicates these fast rotators require substantial cohesion, with estimates near 900 kPa for MK41 and around 9,000 kPa for MN45.
- Researchers say the unexpected prevalence of rapid spinners suggests collision-only models are incomplete, and expanded Rubin surveys in 2026 are expected to test these ideas.