Bizarre Six-Tailed Asteroid Dumbfounds Scientists

coondoggie writes "Many images from deep space are so cool, weird and unusual it is hard to believe they are real sometimes. This is one of them. Astronomers looking deep into the asteroid belt through NASA's Hubble Space Telescope say they have spotted an asteroid, designated P/2013 P5, with six comet-like tails of dust radiating from it like spokes on a wheel or a spinning garden sprinkler."

Comments

Re:Well, there's a simple explanation, really.

[Jonah Hex]

I figured it was pockets of something outgassing (is that the correct term?) as is spins. Different materials heat/etc different rates blah blah cue Bill Nye or Phil Platt please.

better science

[iggymanz]

comets are icy and have tails when close to sun due to outgassing.

Asteroids (minor planets that are stony, metallic, or carbon compound based) can have tails for various reasons, some covered in the article.

What is this?

[Anonymous Coward]

I clicked the link and it's just an image of two guys sitting in a car. What is this about? Why do you waste our time like this? I don't think it was very nice.

Thank you for reading this complaint.

Re:It ain't no swastika.

[drinkypoo]

The swastika was an important symbol before Germany was a country.

Re:How to detect a really bad science writer...

[Chelloveck]

Well, in this case it's a direct quote from the lead investigator.

"We were literally dumbfounded when we saw it," said lead investigator David Jewitt of the University of California at Los Angeles in a statement.

And while I'm not sure a scientist would say "I'm just so gosh-darn BAFFLED!" I have heard them say, "Beats the hell outta me." I guess "Scientists baffled by new sighting" is a more accurate headline than "Scientists get the hell beaten out of them by new sighting."