Sci Tech
Strange Six-tailed, shapeshifting asteroid Spotted (PHOTO)
P/2013 P5 as seen by Hubble on September 10, 2013. Image credit: NASA / ESA / D. Jewitt, University of California, Los Angeles / J. Agarwal, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research / H. Weaver, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / M. Mutchler, STScI / S. Larson, University of Arizona
Astronomers have found an asteroid they have named P/2013 P5, which has them left them scratching their heads. The Astroid has six-tails and appears to change shape. This leaves astronomers baffled because asteroids do not usually have tails nor do they change form.
Scientists first turned the Hubble Space telescope toward the object in September after the asteroid was discovered by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope in Hawaii.
The object is located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Scientists have been provided with an opportunity to witness something they have never been able to see before. Although it has been believed that asteroids break up, this is the first time astronomers are able to witness the process in action.
“We were literally dumbfounded when we saw it,” astronomer David Jewitt with the University of California at Los Angeles, said in a statement. “It’s hard to believe we’re looking at an asteroid.”
P/2013 P5 as seen by Hubble on September 23, 2013. Image credit: NASA / ESA / D. Jewitt, University of California, Los Angeles / J. Agarwal, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research / H. Weaver, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / M. Mutchler, STScI / S. Larson, University of Arizona
It is believed that the surface of the asteroid is being disrupted by small particles of electromagnetic radiation and light. This disruption may also be caused by pressure from photons. The effect of this disruption is responsible for creating the many tales that have been seen as well as the shape changes that occur.
“This object has ejected dust for at least five months,” Prof Jewitt said.
“Given our observations and modeling, we infer that P/2013 P5 might be losing dust as it rotates at high speed,” said co-author Dr Jessica Agarwal of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research.
“The Sun then drags this dust into the distinct tails we’re seeing.”
The asteroid could possibly have been spun up to a high speed as pressure from the Sun’s light exerted a torque on the body.
“If the asteroid’s spin rate became fast enough, the asteroid’s weak gravity would no longer be able to hold it together. Dust might avalanche down towards the equator, and maybe shatter and fall off, eventually drifting into space to make a tail. So far, only a small fraction of the main mass, perhaps 100 to 1000 tones of dust, has been lost. The asteroid is thousands of times more massive,” Prof Jewitt said.
“Follow-up observations may reveal whether the dust leaves the asteroid in the equatorial plane. If so, that would indicate a rotational breakup.”
“The object may be a piece from an asteroid collision that occurred roughly 200 million years ago. The resulting collision fragments, known as the Flora asteroid family, are still following similar orbits. Meteorites from these bodies show evidence of having been heated to as much as 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit,” Prof Jewitt said.