Asteroid Gault is self-destructing.
Images shot by the Hubble Space Telescope show the space rock — some 2.5 to 5.5 miles wide — has left telltale streaks of debris as it hurtles through our solar system. It’s gradually breaking apart.
Why? Sunlight heats up the surface of asteroids, and when enough heat radiates off the rocky body’s surface, this can propel the asteroid and force it to spin. With enough motion, shifting rubble and landslides on the massive rock can tumble into space. Basically, the asteroid is shedding.
Today, telescopes on Earth and in space (like the 29-year-old Hubble) can combine their observations to detect these rarely-seen events. Read more…
More about Space, Science, Asteroids, Science, and Space
There’s a self-destructing asteroid zooming through the solar system
