To create these radar photos, NASA used huge, Earth-based radio telescopes and antennas. First, a 230-foot antenna at Goldstone, California called DSS-14 sent microwaves at TB145, which then bounced off the space rock and headed back toward Earth. These signals were then received by the 100-meter Green Bank Telescope at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in West Virginia. These signal reflections can be pieced together into images with resolutions of less than 13 feet per pixel. That's enough to show the various cavities, boulders, and ridges on the asteroid.

These are probably the only good pictures we'll have of TB145 for a while, too. The next time the asteroid is scheduled to stop by again is in September 2018. When it does, it will pass at a distance of 24 million miles, or a quarter of the distance between Earth and the Sun. Chances are we won't get nearly as good head shots for that flyby.

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