With the help of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, a German-led group of astronomers have observed the intriguing characteristics of an unusual type of object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter: two asteroids orbiting each other and exhibiting comet-like features, including a bright coma and a long tail. This is the first known binary asteroid also classified as a comet. The research is presented in a paper published in the journal Nature this week.
The release, images and videos are available on:
http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1715/
Kind regards,
ESA/Hubble Information Centre
The ESO Education and Public Outreach Department
20 September 2017
|
|
|
|
