Asteroid 596 Scheila "Outburst" |
Asteroid 596 Scheila "Outburst" |
Dec 11 2010, 11:11 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 699 Joined: 3-December 04 From: Boulder, Colorado, USA Member No.: 117 |
I just saw a report that Steve Larson of the University of Arizona observed a "comet" last night (Saturday morning, December 11th UT), which turned out to be asteroid 596 Scheila. The asteroid, which is quite big (about 113 km in diameter) is surrounded by a vaguely spiral-shaped dust cloud. A recent impact, maybe? If so, it would be the first recorded impact on a large asteroid.
Interesting! John |
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Dec 12 2010, 12:24 AM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 903 Joined: 30-January 05 Member No.: 162 |
Yeah, figured I had better put a smiley on my post.
This is really exiting news though. Nice Christmas present for those of us interested in such things. I see 596 Sheila might have produced a visible occulatation back in 2005 for our friends in Australia and New Zealand. Wonder if we have any data on satellites? |
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Dec 12 2010, 01:54 AM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2082 Joined: 13-February 10 From: Ontario Member No.: 5221 |
Hubble watched something like this once before (three times to be exact):
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2010/34 Of course, this time one of the participants has been seen before, I'm sure they'll take a peek. |
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