Astronomers have discovered a strange object in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. This does not present the appearance of a light point of common asteroids, but rather resembles a sprinkler as it rotates on itself, expelling dust and creating six tails of light . The finding has stumped experts.
The team from the University of California (USA) believe that it is an ancient asteroid whose rotation speed suffered a drastic increase to the point of causing the detachment of its surface and the expulsion of dust from its interior. Scientists have ruled out the possibility of a recent impact from another asteroid, since if so, a large amount of dust would have dispersed through space at one time instead of the five months that the ejection has been prolonged. .
Its multiple tails were discovered in images taken by the Hubble telescope on September 10 , after the object was spotted with a survey telescope in Hawaii. When, after two weeks, the telescope looked again at the peculiar asteroid, the appearance of its tails had completely changed, a sign that the eruptions are continuing.
