Hubble: Suspected Asteroid (P/2010 A2) Collision Leaves Odd X-Pattern of Trailing Debris
Unusual one this, cheered me up though:-
Click here to view full size at the Hubble Website.
If you have stumbled onto this blog and are not a Christian, get yourself a hot drink, pull up a comfy chair and then tuck into the following article written by one of the best in the business:- All Of Grace by Charles SpurgeonIs this incredible thing in heavens a sign from God?
Some people are seeing a flying cross, or perhaps a Star of David.
Others say it resembles a ninja-style throwing blade or even a science-fiction spaceship from such Hollywood creations as “Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” “Babylon 5″ or “The Last Starfighter.”
While scientists don’t think it’s a comet, they’re not exactly sure of the precise origin of the incredible object soaring some 90 million miles from Earth, snapped just a few weeks ago by the Hubble Space Telescope.
“I’ve seen thousands of astronomical images over my career, but this is one of the few absolute jaw-droppers: A flying X-pattern with trailing streamers,” said Ray Villard, a contributing writer to Discovery News. “Whatever it is, nothing quite like it has ever before been seen in the heavens.”
Even the experts who study celestial phenomena seem somewhat perplexed.
“We’re still trying to really figure out what it is,” University of Arizona planetary scientist Jim Scotti told National Geographic. Scotti is on a team observing the object from the Kitt Peak National Observatory outside Tucson.
“The truth is, we’re still struggling to understand what this means,” comet expert David Jewitt at UCLA told Britain’s Daily Mail. “It’s most likely the result of a recent collision between two asteroids.”
If it is indeed the result of such a collision, it would be the first time astronomers have gazed upon the immediate result of such a crash.
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