A never-before-seen phenomenon of six comet-like tails radiating from the body of an asteroid that scientists have named P/2013 P5.
Scientists at NASA are scratching their heads after an unusual asteroid was spotted by the Hubble telescope in Hawaii. Unlike most asteroids, this one resembles a “rotating lawn sprinkler,” spraying out six comet-like tails.
“We were literally dumbfounded when we saw it,” lead investigator David Jewitt said in a press release. “Even more amazing, its tail structures change dramatically in just 13 days as it belches out dust.”
Astronomers believe the rock, dubbed P/2013 P5, could have come from an asteroid collision around 200 million years ago. The object may have begun spinning so fast that it started to disintegrate, they suggested.