The Subaru Telescope on Maunakea recently captured images of the asteroid 1998 KY26, which travels close to Earth only once every 3.5 years. This asteroid is small, just 30 meters (less than 100 ft) across, so it is faint enough that most ground based telescopes can’t even detect it. Importantly, 1998 KY26 is the next target for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s asteroid explorer, Hayabusa2. So accurate positional data was needed. The Hayabusa2 space probe recently delivered a re-entry capsule to Earth containing samples from another asteroid, before heading back out to observe 1998 KY26. This will be the first mission to such a small asteroid, potentially providing new insights into planetary science.
Read more, in the Subaru Telescope press release.