Asteroid With Six Comet-like Tails Spotted With Hubble Space Telescope
Posted on November 10, 2013
An unusual asteroid with six comet-like tails has been spotted with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Astronomers are puzzled by its strange appearance. Astronomers are puzzled by the asteroid, which they say resembles a rotating lawn sprinkler. The asteroid is named P/2013 P5. You can see a large image of the asteroid and the tails here.
Lead investigator David Jewitt, of the University of California at Los Angeles, said in a release, "We were literally dumbfounded when we saw it. Even more amazing, its tail structures change dramatically in just 13 days as it belches out dust. That also caught us by surprise. It's hard to believe we're looking at an asteroid."
Here are some other findings about the unusual asteroid:
- The asteroid has been ejecting dust for at least five months.
- The asteroid's rotation rate may be causing it to lose mass in the form of dust
- The astronomers say the asteroid has lost 100 to 1,000 tons of dust so far, which is a small fraction of the asteroid's total mass
- A fuzzy image of the asteroid was first detected by astronomers using the Pan-STARRS survey telescope in Hawaii
- The multiple tails were first discovered in detailed Hubble image from Sept. 10.
- The asteroid's appearance had completely changed in a new Hubble image from Sept. 23. This shocked astronomers.
- Jewitt says it is possible the rotational breakup of the asteroid is common in the asteroid belt and it could be the main way small asteroids die.