Suspected Asteroid Collision

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1 National Aeronautics and Space Administration Suspected Asteroid Collision Taken from: Hubble 2010: Science Year in Review Produced by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the Space Telescope Science Institute. The full contents of this book include Hubble science articles, an overview of the telescope, and more. The complete volume and its component sections are available for download online at:

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3 Suspected Asteroid Collision In January 2010, astronomers believed they had nearly witnessed the collision between two asteroids in real time when images from Hubble revealed a bizarre X-shaped object at the head of a comet-like trail of material. Using Hubble to track the strange feature for five months, they expected to see the debris field expand dramatically like shrapnel flying away from the explosion of a hand grenade. What they found was quite the opposite: the X is expanding, but only very slowly. It appears that the impact was not as recent as first thought, but must have occurred nearly a year before the first January observations. Astronomer David Jewitt of the University of California in Los Angeles led the team that acquired and analyzed these Hubble observations. By the team s calculations, the encounter happened in February or March It was not seen because at the time, the comet-like object was located in our daytime sky, therefore unobservable by telescopes on Earth or in near-earth orbit. The peculiar object, called P/2010 A2, was found in the asteroid belt, a reservoir of small rocky bodies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. P/2010 A2 was approximately 102 million miles from Earth when Hubble first observed it. Encounters between asteroids are thought to be common. In fact, Jewitt estimates that modest-sized asteroids strike one another roughly once a year. When such objects collide, they inject dust into interplanetary space. Until now, astronomers have relied on computer models to make predictions about the frequency of these collisions and the amount of dust they produce. Hubble s observations have enabled researchers for the first time to measure the amount of dust that originates from such collisions. Their findings will help unravel the origin and distribution of solar system dust, and estimate what percentage comes from colliding asteroids as opposed to other sources, like comets. Astronomers can also apply this knowledge to the dusty debris disks seen around other stars because these disks are thought to be produced by collisions between unseen asteroid-like bodies in their disks. Hubble revealed the head of this dusty debris trail to be an X-shaped, filamentary structure unseen before in the solar system. 85

4 A possible scenario for the creation of P/2010 A2 is given this three-panel sequence. Panel 1: A small asteroid travels on a collision course with a much larger asteroid. Panel 2: The two asteroids collide; dust and debris eject from the impact site. Panel 3: The debris flies away from the collision with the larger pieces trailing dust, looking like miniature comets. 86

5 The Hubble images, taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 from January to May 2010, reveal an object estimated to be 400 feet wide, with a long, flowing dust tail behind a never-before-seen X pattern. Particle sizes in the tail are estimated to vary from about 1/25th of an inch to an inch in diameter. Over the five months of observations, the debris trail retained its X shape even as the ejected particles slowly dispersed into space. P/2010 A2 is thought to be the remnant of a slightly larger precursor body. Astronomers think a smaller asteroid, perhaps 10 to 15 feet wide, slammed into the larger one. The pair probably collided at high speed, about 11,000 miles an hour, which shattered and vaporized the small asteroid and stripped material from the larger one. Jewitt estimates that the encounter was as powerful as the detonation of a small atomic bomb. Radiation pressure from the Sun then pushed the dusty debris behind the remnant asteroid, forming a tail. The two suspected asteroids were probably no strangers to collisions. They were themselves most likely relics from impacts between larger asteroids that occurred tens or hundreds of millions of years ago. This collisional grinding is thought to be one of the main processes by which asteroids are destroyed. Astronomers still do not have a good explanation for the X shape. The crisscrossed filaments suggest that material ejected from the impact did not make a symmetrical pattern but rather shot out streamers of dust. Larger particles released in the streamers then dispersed slowly, giving the X-shaped structure its longevity. Although the Hubble images give compelling evidence for an asteroid collision, Jewitt still does not have sufficient information to rule out all alternative ideas completely. In one proposed scenario, the non-uniform radiation pressure of sunlight could spin a small asteroid, causing it to lose mass and to form a comet-like tail. Catching colliding asteroids in the act is difficult. Large impacts are rare, while small ones, such as the one that produced P/2010 A2, are exceedingly faint. If two asteroids did indeed collide to produce P/2010 A2, these asteroids were unknown before the event because they were too faint to be noticed. About 10 months after the collision, in January 2010, the Lincoln Near-Earth Research (LINEAR) Program Sky Survey spotted the comet-like tail produced by the encounter. However, only Hubble resolved the X pattern, offering unequivocal evidence that something stranger than an outgassing comet was in view. 87

6 January 29, 2010 March 12, 2010 April 19, 2010 May 29, 2010 Taken from January to May 2010, these Hubble images reveal an object approximately 400 feet wide, with a long, flowing dust tail behind a neverbefore-seen X-shaped pattern. This X, likely the result of two asteroids colliding, is expanding very slowly, indicating that the event occurred nearly a year before the initial January observations. 88

7 Jewitt is confident that future telescopes will find many asteroid encounters. The planned Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) a ground-based, wide-field survey observatory that will scan the sky weekly for transitory events such as supernovas and the passage of near-earth asteroids should spot dozens of new asteroid collision sites. Many of these should be the result of collisions that occurred only a short time before. This facility is slated for operation later this decade. Further Reading Andrews, B. X Marks the (Collision) Spot. Astronomy 38, no. 6 (June 2010): 23. Berardelli, P. Oddball Lurking Among the Asteroids, ScienceNOW, February 3, (accessed January 5, 2011). Jewitt, D., et al. A Recent Disruption of the Main-Belt Asteroid P/2010 A2. Nature 467, no (October 13, 2010): Nesvorný, D. Solar System: Accidental Investigation, Nature 467, no (October 31, 2010): Snodgrass, C., et al. A Collision in 2009 as the Origin of the Debris Trail of Asteroid P/2010 A2. Nature 467, no (October 14, 2010): The First Asteroid Collision? Sky and Telescope 119, no. 5 (May 2010): 12. Dr. David Jewitt is a professor in the departments of Earth and Space Sciences and of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His research is focused on the exploration of the small bodies of the solar system, which he uses to glean clues to the origin and evolution of planets. Born in London, Dr. Jewitt earned his bachelor of sciences degree in astronomy from the University of London, and both his master s in planetary science and his doctorate in planetary science and astronomy from the California Institute of Technology. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics. 89

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