Mystery Object Behaves Both Like a Comet and Asteroid

[n2doc]

By Ray Villard | Mon Jan 18, 2010 12:41 PM ET

Something awfully curious is happening 250 million miles away in the asteroid belt.

Astronomers think they may be witnessing a never-before-seen collision between two asteroids.

The puzzle centers on a newly discovered object that superficially looks like a comet but lives among the asteroids.

The strange object was discovered on January 6 by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) sky survey. The object appears to be in an orbit inside the main asteroid belt -- not a place where comets usually dwell.

The distinction? Comets swoop along elliptical orbits close in to the sun and grow long gaseous and dusty tails as ices sublimate off their solid nucleus and release dust. But asteroids are mostly in more circular orbits and are not normally expected to be as volatile as comets.

In the comments below veteran comet observer Jim Scotti correctly points out that several other weird comet/asteroid hybrids have been reported over the years.

more:

http://news.discovery.com/space/mystery-object-behaves-both-like-a-comet-and-asteroid.html

[midnight]

1. I always love seeing the photos of space.... Not sure what it all means, but

it looks fascinating..

[DrDan]

2. "they have a ringside seat to watching an actual hypervelocity collision . . . "

". . . between two previously unseen asteroids."

not unlike NASCAR fans . . .

[trotsky]

3. I'm not exactly sure why this should be so surprising.

It's pretty well known that especially the gas giants can have a significant effect on other objects orbiting the sun. Doesn't seem very unlikely to me that Jupiter, for instance, may have tugged a comet's orbit enough to nudge it into the asteroid belt. Who knows what other debris is tucked away in there.

Should be an awesome collision though!

[redqueen]

5. Yep the whole comet/asteroid thing isn't new...

but the chance to observe the collision is exciting.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. They're mutating!