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Hubble spots asteroid collision; experts see link to dinosaurs' extinction
by Ishita Sood - February 3, 2010 - comments
Some believe that the two asteroids that collided may have been the siblings of the rock that killed dinosaurs millions of years ago.
New York, February 3 -- NASA’s Hubble Telescope has spotted the first head on collision between two asteroids last week. This is the first time that scientists have detected an interplanetary collision between two heavenly objects.
Scientists have purported that the complex structure, which looks like debris, may be from the Flora family of asteroids. The main nucleus of the object called ‘P/2010 A2’ is said to have been created by a high speed impact of 11,000 miles per hour.
However, scientists think that the nucleus is nothing but the remnant of the head on collision.
“The filamentary appearance of P/2010 A2 is different from anything seen in Hubble images of normal comets, consistent with the action of a different process,” said David Jewitt, lead scientist with the University of California.
“If this interpretation is correct, two small and previously unknown asteroids recently collided, creating a shower of debris that is being swept back into a tail from the collision site by the pressure of sunlight,” added Jewitt.
Object lies between Mars and Jupiter
Scientists released pictures of the mysterious tale of debris on Tuesday. The object, circling about 90 million miles from Earth, lies in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
“This is quite different from the smooth dust envelopes of normal comets. The filaments are made of dust and gravel, presumably recently thrown out of the nucleus. Some are swept back by radiation pressure from sunlight to create straight dust streaks. Embedded in the filaments are co-moving blobs of dust that likely originated from tiny unseen parent bodies,” said Jewitt.
The object resembles a comet and has “has a very strange appearance, the likes of which we've never seen before.”
It has been reported that it could provide information on a future asteroid strike on Earth and could also help understand how to avert an asteroid collision.
What really killed the dinosaurs?
And the theories don’t end here. Tuesday’s release saw another presumption coming from astronomers. Many believe that the two asteroids that collided may be the siblings of the rock that killed dinosaurs millions of years ago.
For countless centuries, scientists have been trying to find out what killed the mammoth creatures. Some believe it was due to non-adaptation of climatic conditions on Earth, while others suggest it was due to a giant asteroid’s crash on Earth.
“The truth is we're still struggling to understand what this means,” said Jewitt. “It'd be the first case we've seen of an asteroid smash happening, basically caught in the act.”
The dinosaurs, which evolved approximately 65 million years ago, were part of the Jurassic period. The term dinosaur was first coined by Sir Richard Owen in 1842.