A Hyper-Velocity Impact In the Asteroid Belt?

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday January 19, 2010 @03:38AM from the i-played-that-game dept.

astroengine writes "Astronomers have spotted something rather odd in the asteroid belt. It looks like a comet, but it's got a circular orbit, similar to an asteroid. Whether it's an asteroid or a comet, it has a long, comet-like tail, suggesting something is being vented into space. Some experts think it could be a very rare comet/asteroid hybrid being heated by the sun, but there's an even more exciting possibility: It could be the first ever observation of two asteroids colliding in the asteroid belt."

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Re:Asteroids boring? by Chris+Mattern · 2010-01-19 06:40 · Score: 3, Interesting

Our asteroid belt is boring, with every rock more or less tidally locked to each other.
It's also a lot sparser than a lot of people realize--enormously more empty than any representation you see on film, TV or video games. You could fly through it and never see an asteroid with the naked eye except as a point of light.