Radar investigations of the asteroid 4179 Tautatis at wavelength of 6 cm

The first domestic experiment on radar studies of an asteroid was conducted on December 8 and 9, 1992, when the asteroid 4179 Tautatis approached earth at a minimum distance of 3.6 million kilometers. Radar measurements of the Doppler shift of the echo signals made it possible to improve considerably the accuracy of determining the asteroid orbit. It was establish ed that Tautatis is a binary asteroid, the integrated characteristics of its surface-polarization ratio, radar cross section and albedo-were determined and the proper rotation period was estimated