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Collision of Two Asteroids Spotted For the First Time

sciencehabit writes "Astronomers report that a small asteroid located in the inner asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter took a major hit early last year. Previously rendered only in artists' conceptions, the first asteroid collision known in modern times revealed itself in a tail of debris streaming from what astronomers at first assumed was a comet. Instead of a steady stream of dust, however, they found boulders near the object with dust moving away from them."

31 comments

  1. Bogeys on DRADIS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That looks an awful lot like a Cylon raider.

    1. Re:Bogeys on DRADIS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hurry call Bruce Willis!

    2. Re:Bogeys on DRADIS by Octorian · · Score: 1

      It actually looks a lot more like a Centari Vorchan class warship.

    3. Re:Bogeys on DRADIS by lennier1 · · Score: 1

      Or like an advanced Chig fighter from "Space: Above and Beyond".

  2. Remember by SilverHatHacker · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you get too close to the debris, you can press Down to teleport.

    --
    Funny may not give karma, but +5 Informative never made anyone snort coffee out their nose.
    1. Re:Remember by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pew pew!!1!

  3. Money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    "So you think that money is the root of all evil?" said Francisco d'Anconia. "Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?
    "When you accept money in payment for your effort, you do so only on the conviction that you will exchange it for the product of the effort of others. It is not the moochers or the looters who give value to money. Not an ocean of tears not all the guns in the world can transform those pieces of paper in your wallet into the bread you will need to survive tomorrow. Those pieces of paper, which should have been gold, are a token of honor--your claim upon the energy of the men who produce. Your wallet is your statement of hope that somewhere in the world around you there are men who will not default on that moral principle which is the root of money, Is this what you consider evil?
    "Have you ever looked for the root of production? Take a look at an electric generator and dare tell yourself that it was created by the muscular effort of unthinking brutes. Try to grow a seed of wheat without the knowledge left to you by men who had to discover it for the first time. Try to obtain your food by means of nothing but physical motions--and you'll learn that man's mind is the root of all the goods produced and of all the wealth that has ever existed on earth.
    "But you say that money is made by the strong at the expense of the weak? What strength do you mean? It is not the strength of guns or muscles. Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think. Then is money made by the man who invents a motor at the expense of those who did not invent it? Is money made by the intelligent at the expense of the fools? By the able at the expense of the incompetent? By the ambitious at the expense of the lazy? Money is made--before it can be looted or mooched--made by the effort of every honest man, each to the extent of his ability. An honest man is one who knows that he can't consume more than he has produced.'
    "To trade by means of money is the code of the men of good will. Money rests on the axiom that every man is the owner of his mind and his effort. Money allows no power to prescribe the value of your effort except the voluntary choice of the man who is willing to trade you his effort in return. Money permits you to obtain for your goods and your labor that which they are worth to the men who buy them, but no more. Money permits no deals except those to mutual benefit by the unforced judgment of the traders. Money demands of you the recognition that men must work for their own benefit, not for their own injury, for their gain, not their loss--the recognition that they are not beasts of burden, born to carry the weight of your misery--that you must offer them values, not wounds--that the common bond among men is not the exchange of suffering, but the exchange of goods. Money demands that you sell, not your weakness to men's stupidity, but your talent to their reason; it demands that you buy, not the shoddiest they offer, but the best that your money can find. And when men live by trade--with reason, not force, as their final arbiter--it is the best product that wins, the best performance, the man of best judgment and highest ability--and the degree of a man's productiveness is the degree of his reward. This is the code of existence whose tool and symbol is money. Is this what you consider evil?
    "But money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver. It will give you the means for the satisfaction of your desires, but it will not provide you with desires. Money is the scourge of the men who attempt to reverse the

    1. Re:Money by DaGoatSpanka · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Money, get away
      Get a good job with more pay
      And your O.K.

      Money, it's a gas
      Grab that cash with both hands
      And make a stash

      New car, caviar, four star daydream
      Think I'll buy me a football team

  4. As previously seen on Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative
  5. didn't spot collision by Xtifr · · Score: 4, Informative

    Technically, they didn't spot the collision. What they spotted was an asteroid that was probably involved in a recent collision. FTA: "Backtracking, they calculated that a single impact by a smaller asteroid could have blasted it all off the asteroid in February or March 2009." (Emphasis mine.) Still a pretty cool pic, though.

    1. Re:didn't spot collision by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'll bet she was on her cellphone and didn't even notice the damage.

    2. Re:didn't spot collision by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Technically, they didn't spot the collision. What they spotted was an asteroid that was probably involved in a recent collision. FTA: "Backtracking, they calculated that a single impact by a smaller asteroid could have blasted it all off the asteroid in February or March 2009." (Emphasis mine.) Still a pretty cool pic, though.

      And what was the alternative theory it ate too many beans?

    3. Re:didn't spot collision by MichaelSmith · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'll bet she was on her cellphone and didn't even notice the damage.

      No, my sister was definitely in the UK at the time.

    4. Re:didn't spot collision by Blain · · Score: 2, Funny

      "And I'm like, 'OMG! Becky's not even hot!'"

    5. Re:didn't spot collision by Zeabra · · Score: 1

      how true!

    6. Re:didn't spot collision by meteficha · · Score: 1

      FTA: "Backtracking, they calculated that a single impact by a smaller asteroid could have blasted it all off the asteroid in February or March 2009."

      Consequences will never be the same!

  6. Welcome to Ubuntu! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    Ubuntu is a Linux-based operating system consisting of Free and Open Source software for laptops, desktops, and servers. Ubuntu has a clear focus on the user and usability - it should "Just Work", even if the user has only the thinking capacities of a sponge. The OS ships with the latest Gnomrilla release as well as a selection of server and desktop software that makes for a comfortable desktop experience off a single installation CD. It also features the packaging manager apeghetto, and the challenging Linux manual pages have been reformatted into the new 'monkey' format, so for example the manual for the shutdown command can be accessed just by typing: 'monkey shut-up -h now mothafukka' instead of 'man shutdown'.

    Absolutely Free of Charge

    Ubuntu is Free Software, and available to you free of charge, as in free beer or free stuffs you can get from looting. It's also Free in the sense of giving you rights of Software Freedom. The freedom to run, copy, steal, distribute, share, change the software for any purpose, without paying licensing fees.

    Free software as in free beer!

    Ubuntu is an ancient Nigger word, meaning "humanity to monkeys". Ubuntu also means "I am what I am because of how apes behave". The Ubuntu Linux distribution brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the software world. The dictator Bokassa described Ubuntu in the following way:

    "A subhuman with Ubuntu is open and available to others (like a white bitch you're ready to fsck), affirming of others, does not feel threatened by the fact that others species are more intelligent than we are, for it has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that it belongs to the great monkey specie."

    We chose the name Ubuntu for this distribution because we think it captures perfectly the spirit of sharing and looting that is at the heart of the open source movement.

  7. Slashdot sucks horse cock by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Admit it, Ubuntu 10.10 will be 0/10 and less than 0.10% marketshare. I have been trolling Slashdot since you were in nappies (you probably still are). Linux has lost, Mac has lost, Windows has lost, the whole world has lost to the trolls

    Trolls forever, our cocks are so clean from being sucked by nerds who can't get laid any other way!

  8. PDAsteroids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Awww look, they were kissing!

    1. Re:PDAsteroids by MichaelSmith · · Score: 3, Funny

      And reproducing. Look at all the little asteroids out of that one.

  9. Impossible by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 3, Funny

    The possibility of successfully spotting an asteroid collision is approximately 3,720 to 1!

    --

    "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    1. Re:Impossible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The possibility of successfully spotting an asteroid collision is approximately 3,720 to 1!

      That's no problem. Just get a big cup of really hot tea....

    2. Re:Impossible by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1

      The possibility of successfully spotting an asteroid collision is approximately 3,720 to 1!

      That's no problem. Just get a big cup of really hot tea....

      I don't want to run the risk of picking up hitch hikers.

    3. Re:Impossible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Never tell me the odds!

  10. Old News by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is old news. This was reported last year on several sites, but probably Bad Astronomy for sure.

    1. Re:Old News by The+Bad+Astronomer · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yup. Hubble captures picture of asteroid collision! :) I think the news here is that the scientists have now had time to look into this more and have confirmed it. HOWEVER, I'm not sure of that. I'm thinking Emily Lakdawalla at The Planetary Society Blog will have something on this...

      --
      *** Phil Plait, aka The Bad Astronomer http://www.badastronomy.com
  11. Duplicate? by pgn674 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Is this the same collision that was reported here on January 19, 2010: Slashdot Science Story | A Hyper-Velocity Impact In the Asteroid Belt??

    It looks like the picture is from February 2, 2010: Two asteroids suspected in space collision - Technology & science - Space - Space.com - msnbc.com

    When I clicked TFA link, I immediately recognized the image from somewhere. I think it's nice to have references to where you may have seen this before, if just to assure you that you have not gone as crazy as you may fear.

  12. Einstein was right! by Alain+Williams · · Score: 4, Funny
    Einstien said of God: ''I, at any rate, am convinced that He does not throw dice.''

    It seems that we now know that God plays billiards instead :-)

  13. Intra-stellar Warming by Dabido · · Score: 1

    I think it's just melting because the solar system is warming up. Of course, I might have just said that to be silly. :-)

    --
    Sure enough, the cow costume was hanging up next to the superhero outfit and sailors uniform. (S,Spud)
    1. Re:Intra-stellar Warming by tonique · · Score: 1

      But that can't be anthropogenic!

    2. Re:Intra-stellar Warming by Dabido · · Score: 1

      It might be if scientists were talking about it and made it's ears burn!! :-)

      --
      Sure enough, the cow costume was hanging up next to the superhero outfit and sailors uniform. (S,Spud)