Ostro will also report on an asteroid, the size of a baseball diamond, that is the smallest solar system object ever studied in detail. Ostro also will report on an asteroid, the size of a baseball diamond, that is the smallest solar system object ever studied in detail. The VLBA will be able, for the first time, to obtain images with resolutions of about 100 meters. Earth-based radars are powerful tools for the investigation of asteroids and comets. Measurements of radar reflection properties provide information about asteroids' surface bulk density, surface roughness and rotation state.
Radar is also one of the few means to investigate cometary nuclei directly.
Seven have been detected to date by the Arecibo and Goldstone telescopes. Ten short-period comets are candidates for detection with radar during the next two decades, but it also is anticipated that several as yet undiscovered comets will be observed passing through the solar system. In recent years there has been an increase in the number of active meteor radar studies ranging in sophistication from systems that use existing commercial television broadcasts to special multifrequency transmissions. While many of these and other facilities have been used to study the famous Leonid shower, much progress is being made on the nonuniform structure of other meteoroid streams.