NASA’s Hubble telescope spotted for the first time an asteroid with six-comet tails flailing out from its body. Astronomers were surprised how different it is from previously encountered asteroids.
The asteroid, named P/2013 P5 was first spotted like a nebulous object in space by scientists who were using the Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS survey telescope last August 27. Its tails were discovered through the more sophisticated Hubble space telescope on September 10. By September 23 however, the scientists were amazed at how the structure of the asteroid has changed.
According to David Jewitt, lead author from the University of California, "We were literally dumbfounded when we saw it. Even more amazing, its tail structures change dramatically in just 13 days as it belches out dust. That also caught us by surprise. It's hard to believe we’re looking at an asteroid."
Jewitt’s colleague Jessica Agarwal did a model which demonstrated the transformation of the asteroid into one that has six comet tails. Several successions of sudden dust discharge episodes caused this tail formations which Agarwal projects to have happened on the dates: April 15, July 18, July 24, Aug. 8, Aug. 26 and Sept. 4.
She further explained that the radiation pressures from the solar rays may have increased the rotation rate of the asteroid which in turn weakened the gravitational forces from the body. P/2013 P5 then was unable to hold all the mass together which explains dust particles of the asteroid to fall, float in space and hang like tails.
Approximately 100-1,000 tons of dust particles were lost from the asteroid’s main body of mass. This is a minute proportion compared to the enormity of the nucleus of P/2013 P5 which is about 1,400 feet wide.
According to Jewitt, it is possible that there are more of this kind of asteroid in space. "In astronomy, where you find one, you eventually find a whole bunch more. This is just an amazing object to us, and almost certainly the first of many more to come."
In the meantime, the astronomers will further investigate on the rotation rates of P/2013 P5. They will also try to verify if the dust particles do leave the equatorial plane and if it causes breaks in an asteroid’s rotary motion.
The study was published in the Nov. 7 issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
