http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Science/2010/02/03/smashed250.jpg
This Hubble Space Telescope picture, shows a bizarre X-pattern of filamentary structures near the point-like nucleus of the object and trailing streamers of dust. Astronomers have found a comet-like object they believe was created by the collision of two asteroids, possible siblings of the rogue rock blamed for killing the dinosaurs millions of years ago.

By IRENE KLOTZ, Reuters

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., - Astronomers have found a comet-like object they believe was created by the collision of two asteroids, possible siblings of the rogue rock blamed for killing the dinosaurs millions of years ago.

The object, known as P/2010 A2, was circling about 90 million miles (144 million km) from Earth in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter when it was spotted last week by the Hubble Space Telescope.

“The truth is we’re still struggling to understand what this means,” lead scientist David Jewitt with the University of California at Los Angeles, told Reuters on Tuesday. “It’s most likely the result of a recent collision between two asteroids.”

If so, he said, “It’d be the first case we’ve seen of an asteroid smash happening, basically caught in the act.”

The object resembles a comet, but its nucleus is severed from its tail, which “has a very strange appearance, the likes of which we’ve never seen before,” Jewitt said.

Studies of the object — and searches for similar ones — would improve scientists’ understanding of how asteroids break apart, information that may be useful to thwart a future asteroid strike on Earth.


“The thing that we want to understand is how the asteroids smash into each other and destroy each other,” Jewett said. “It might help us understand even how to destroy an asteroid and prevent one from hitting us.”

Scientists believe a giant comet or asteroid that hit Earth about 65 million years ago was linked to the extinction of the dinosaurs, possibly by throwing up dust or chemical clouds that blocked the sun or by igniting global wildfires.

Calculations show the orbit of P/2010 A2 is related to the group of asteroids, known at the Flora family, that produced that asteroid.

NASA is working to catalog at least 90 percent of the estimated 1,000 objects that approach Earth and are larger across than one kilometer, about two-thirds of a mile. The agency’s proposed budget for the year beginning Oct. 1 includes a $16 million annual increase to step up that effort.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Science/2010/02/03/12725071-reuters.html

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2010/07/

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SETI@Home Informational message -9 result_overflow
with a general handicap of 80% and it makes much d' efforts for the community and s' expimer, thank you d' to be understanding.

cool photo

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Sometimes I think we are alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we are not. In either case the idea is quite staggering.

Scheduling information for the Hubble Space Telescope indicates that Dr. David Jewitt will again be observing P/2010 A2 on February 22nd, just five days from now. The Best of Luck to him, and may his observations help explain the nature of this mysterious object, and unscrew the inscrutable. Results will be awaited with great interest. Michael

Are you saying this object is actually related to the one that killed the dinosaurs directly or is it just a member of the same group of asteroids from which it originated?

James; I'm not at all sure that P/2010 A2 is the remains of two asteroid that crashed together, though this is a commonly stated idea. The probability of this happening seems remote, as does that of a Near Earth Asteroid survey just happening to be looking at the right place and time. The supposed debris trails are hard to explain as an asteroid collision, given their positions. I've heard it suggested that if this is an asteroidal event, then it could involve members of the Flora family of asteroids, which are believed to have their origin in the break-up of one larger asteroid, a very long time ago. It's been suggested that one of the Flora asteroids was responsible for the impact on Earth ~ 65 million years ago, which appears to have played a substantial part in the extinction of the dinosaurs. Michael

I saw this program on discovery science I think which had a theory suggesting that the asteroid event happened 300'000 years before the actual extinction of the dinosaurs and that they were already on a downward spiral due to climate change and volcanic upheaval. Do you think it actually played a big part in their demise or that the asteroid was just the final straw?

James; Super-volcanism in India, and resultant climate change probably played a part in the demise of the dinosaurs. This appears to have occurred before and around the time of the asteroid impact. Those species merely weakened by one, could have been finished by the other. Michael

It's now been two weeks since new pictures of P/2010 A2 were reported successfully taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. There has been no release of these images. This seems odd as the last time images were taken, on Jan 29th, they were released within four days. An amateur astronomer, Bernhard Hausler, made an image of the object on Mar. 4th. The object is small and dim in this image, due to the smaller telescope used, but at least has the advantage of being far more recent than any offered by professionals. In it, the object appears just as compact as it was two months ago, at the time of its discovery. Allowing for the greater distance from Earth, now, it is also just as bright as it was. As the object refuses to disperse, as would be expected of the aftermath of an asteroid-on-asteroid collision, perhaps a new explanation is in order. link to image: http://www.amication.de/Bernhards_Comet_Project/p2010a2_20100304.htm

More from amateur astronomer Bernhard Hausler. In addition to another photograph of P/2010 A2, taken on March 11th, which shows that the object continues undimmed and undispersed, there is more. The position of the Sun, with respect to the 'tail' of the object has finally been worked out. The 'tail' is pointing almost directly AT the Sun; NOT away from it. This is the complete opposite of what was expected. It rules out the possibility that the Solar wind is driving the tail out, as with the dust tail of a comet. When this explanation for the object's shape began to be talked about, everyone, including me, assumed that the Sun was so positioned that this could reasonably occur. This is not the case. A less probable scenario could not have been produced, it someone had set out to do so. The comet explanation has failed. With the asteroid collision idea now faltering, too, there is a problem. It is expected that anything found in this area of space will be either a comet or an asteroid. The official attitude is that it must be one or the other, for what else COULD it be? A very good question. What else, indeed? Michael

so the tail is in front of the object not behind as a comet shjould look. Hmmmm interesting.

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

Yes, and it can hardly be a tail, in the usual sense, given its position. Although there have been some variations in the brightness of the object, it was reported as bright or brighter on April 11th and 13th as when discovered on January 6th. This is not consistent with a one-way process, like the scattering of a dust cloud. Michael

James/Michael:

Getting back to what killed the dinosaurs, there was a barrage of asteroid impacts over an extended period prior to the Yucatan impact. In other words, the dino's were being pick off over time with the Yucatan impact being the final straw that did them in. Even the Yucatan event was not a single event. There is evidence that this event may have consisted of at least 5 different impacts of various sizes around the globe. IE. Ukraine, North Sea, Saskatchewan Canada. I can't remember the other locations.

Secondly, there is a scientist that claims there was another large impact at the same time that he calls the Shiva crater located off the Seychelle Islands in the Indian Ocean. According to him, the impact crater measures 400 x 300 mi or km can't remember.

The Deccan lava flows and major volcanism at that time was probably caused by the severe impact from the asteroids. With the recent Richter 9 earthquakes the planet rang like a bell. Imagine with an impact like the Shiva or the 1 in the Yucatan the Earth would have vibrated enough to cause the crust to break in several locations causing massive volcanism and lava flows.

Franz