When astronomers discovered a orphic X - wrought physical object in space last January , they ab initio think it was a comet . Further investigation by the Hubble Space Telescope revealed it to be the aftermath of two asteroids smashing into each other .
The discovery of target P/2010 A2 marks the first time astronomer have seen the corpse of an asteroid collision ; large - graduated table smash - ups are rarefied and small collisions can be difficult to discern . Even though uranologist first noticed P/2010 A2 in January , the trace of the collision hang around for months — UCLA astronomer David Jewitt observe that the asteroids ’ dust fan out slowly , rather than pinballing across the solar organisation . maintain the asteroids ’ stay is unbelievably useful , as the objective ’ impairment offer insights into the movement of dust throughout place .
FromSPACE :
Astronomers mistrust a rock’n’roll maybe 10 - 16 feet ( 3 - 5 m ) wide slammed into a declamatory asteroid at speeds of about 11,200 mph ( 18,000 kph ) with a blowup as sinewy as a small-scale atomic turkey , said researcher David Jewitt .
[ … allege Jewitt ] “ These reflection are important because we need to know where the debris in the solar organization add up from , and how much of it comes from jar asteroids as opposed to ‘ outgassing ’ comet , ” Jewitt said . “ We can also apply this knowledge to the dusty dust disks around other stars , because these are thought to be produced by collisions between unseen body in the disks . Knowing how the dust was produced will yield clew about those invisible bodies . ” [ … ]
Good affair we have these Hubble kingpin around . Given P/2010 A2 ’s shape , I would ’ve just dismissed it asthe corpse of the Galactic Golemafter Superman slash him into the sky .
[ exposure via NASA , ESA , and D. Jewitt @ UCLA ]
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