Science

Judi Lynn

(160,542 posts) Thu Mar 6, 2014, 11:47 PM Mar 2014

Hubble Telescope captures images of asteroid break up caused by sunlight

Hubble Telescope captures images of asteroid break up caused by sunlight
Published on March 6, 2014

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured images of the disintegration of an asteroid into as many as ten smaller fragments for the first time.

The asteroid, designated P/2013 R3, was first spotted on 15 September 2013 by the Catalina and Pan-STARRS sky surveys, with further study with the Keck Telescope on 10 October revealed three bodies moving together in an envelope of dust nearly the diameter of Earth.

David Jewitt of the University of California at Los Angeles, who led the astronomical forensics investigation, said:

"The Keck Observatory showed us this thing was worth looking at with Hubble. With its superior resolution, space telescope observations soon showed there were really 10 embedded objects, each with comet-like dust tails. The four largest rocky fragments are up to 400 yards in diameter, about four times the length of a football field."

More:
http://descrier.co.uk/science/2014/03/hubble-telescope-captures-images-asteroid-break-caused-sunlight/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hubble-telescope-captures-images-asteroid-break-caused-sunlight

3 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Hubble Telescope captures images of asteroid break up caused by sunlight (Original Post) Judi Lynn Mar 2014 OP

Fascinating. It's amazing how much we have learned from the Hubble telescope. (n/t) spin Mar 2014 #1

Oh so cool! The Hubble is a treasure. R&K nt longship Mar 2014 #2

The depth of knowledge that has been gleaned is stunning, surpassed only by Moostache Mar 2014 #3

spin

(17,493 posts)

1. Fascinating. It's amazing how much we have learned from the Hubble telescope. (n/t)

Reply to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Thu Mar 6, 2014, 11:58 PM

Mar 2014

longship

(40,416 posts)

2. Oh so cool! The Hubble is a treasure. R&K nt

Reply to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Fri Mar 7, 2014, 12:58 AM

Mar 2014

Moostache

(9,895 posts)

3. The depth of knowledge that has been gleaned is stunning, surpassed only by

Reply to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Fri Mar 7, 2014, 02:50 AM

Mar 2014

the ability of MILLIONS of Americans and BILLIONS of humans to not know ANY of it!

The loss of the Space Shuttle program and dearth of American long-term visions for NASA and space exploration - with no replacement vehicle or mission on the horizon, still bothers me to no end. The work done in exploring space and just in advancing humanity's tentative forays into the cosmic sea is the only thing we could conceivably contribute to history that will not damn us all to ridicule, scorn or hate from the unborn generations to come. And we have let it go to hell because too few people care about the future they won't live to see, and too many are obsessed with sheer folly like the exploits of the wife and idiot children of a lawyer ... or the backwoods racism of fake rednecks...it makes me want to pull out what little hair I have left!

We have poisoned the atmosphere, polluted the waters, destroyed millions of year old eco-systems, obliterated countless species and in general wasted the gifts of technology and advancements from our previous ignorance to the tidal pools of deeper knowledge on readily accessible pornography and easier to distribute propaganda. We are without question guilty of egregious crimes against future humanity and there is no defense we can avail ourselves of either...it makes me want to cry on a regular basis. Instead of researching the deepest questions; or designing the future in ways that make inequality and hording of wealth and resources as social disgusting as they are morally bankrupt, we are easily swayed and distracted and kept at each other's throats by "issues" like whether or not we should be allowed to hate each other for the most inane reasons imaginable.

Hubble and the ISS and Spirit and Opportunity and Voyager and Pioneer stand as stark reminders that the United States specifically, and humanity in general, has lost the plot and moved into a death spiral that either will or will not be recognized before it hits zero barrier.

Anyone wanna bet on humans? .... cause I am taking natural selection and laying the points...

Reply to this discussion