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Friday, October 16, 2026 · UTC
The Sky & Telescopes

Vera Rubin Observatory identifies 66 super-fast rotator asteroid candidates

Asteroid 491384 confirmed as largest ultra-fast spinning asteroid discovered to date

Arjun Nair
Astronomy Editor
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Astronomers study ultra-fast spinning asteroids at Vera Rubin Observatory
Astronomers study ultra-fast spinning asteroids at Vera Rubin Observatory AI illustrationhow this picture was made
SEATTLE, USA, Oct. 6, 2026 - The Vera Rubin Observatory has turned up 66 super-fast rotator asteroid candidates among 9,417 asteroids it observed,[1][2] using software developed by a team led by Dmitrii Vavilov at the University of Washington to filter out unreliable spin measurements.[3] Asteroid 491384 is the largest ultra-fast spinning asteroid known.[4][5] It is about 2.53 kilometres across and spins once every 4.18 minutes.[6] A second asteroid, 566130, is also more than 2 kilometres wide.[7] The team applied its method to Rubin's DP2 data catalog.[8] That is far faster than expected: asteroids larger than 150 metres should not spin faster than once every 2.2 hours if they are loose rubble piles held together only by gravity.[9] Space Nugget. Many asteroids are thought to be rubble piles, loose collections of rock held together mainly by their own weak gravity. A rubble pile that spins too fast flies apart, so a large asteroid spinning in minutes must have some internal strength, and how strongly an asteroid holds together matters for any plan to deflect one.
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What this stands on
  1. The research team analysed 9,417 asteroids observed by the Vera Rubin Observatory, identifying 66 super-fast rotator candidates. · Phys.org
  2. 66 super-fast rotating asteroids were found. · arxiv.org
  3. A research team led by Dmitrii Vavilov at the University of Washington developed automated software to filter unreliable asteroid spin rate measurements. · Phys.org
  4. Asteroid 491384 is the largest confirmed ultra-fast spinning asteroid discovered to date. · Phys.org
  5. Asteroid 491384 is the largest known ultra-fast rotator. · arxiv.org
  6. Asteroid 491384 has an estimated diameter of 2.53 kilometres and completes one full rotation every 4.18 minutes. · Phys.org
  7. Asteroids 491384 and 566130 are over 2 km wide. · arxiv.org
  8. The method was applied to the Rubin DP2 catalog. · arxiv.org
  9. Asteroids larger than 150 metres are not expected to rotate faster than once every 2.2 hours if they are loose rubble piles held only by gravity. · Phys.org
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