Astronomers Have Spotted a Strange Hybrid Asteroid between Mars and Jupiter

The object was first spotted in 2006 but its strangeness was only realised in 2012 when astronomers noticed the asteroid had comet-like characteristics , namely a tail , and that it was in fact two similarly sized objects orbiting each other.

So-called main belt comets aren't new, but they're by no means common either. This asteroid is just one of about a dozen such objects ever discovered. What makes this particular one so unique is that it's in two pieces.

2006 VW139 is made of a pair of equal-sized lumps orbiting one another at a distance of just under 100 kilometres (about 60 miles). Why it split in half is an intriguing mystery, one that meant astronomers were desperate for a closer look.
www.sciencealert.com...

The astronomers got that closer look last year as the binary object made its closest approach to the sun and using images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope made a time lapse animation of the object , below is a video that contains the time lapse and explanation of 2006 VW139.


Time lapse on its own.

Not only is it a beautiful example of how nature DNGAF about our categories, it raises some interesting questions on how many of these hybrids might be out there.

a reply to: gortex

S&F not bc I think the topic was important, but because I love the interesting threads like these and wish we'd get more of them and less angry dissection of Clinton/Trump minutiae.

Not much to add besides, "Cool stuff. Thanks"

One post it took to see "Clinton/Trump " mentioned.

originally posted by: Black_Fox
One post it took to see "Clinton/Trump " mentioned.

Take it as a preemptive warning, not as a knee-jerk opportunity to jump on two words.

a reply to: gortex

I saw this earlier.

Are astronomers certain that it's not just the asteroid police chasing a speeding asteroid?

a reply to: Black_Fox

Let me guess: you're part of the problem?

On topic, here's an interesting link I found while looking to read more about this. These hybrids are apparently called centaurs. This one's a different hybrid than the one in the OP. It's not binary -- but it has a ring!
www.sciencenewsforstudents.org...

Astronomers have discovered a pair of thin rings encircling 10199 Chariklo. It’s a rock-and-ice asteroid-comet hybrid, also known as a centaur.
...
"There’s no doubt that there’s a ring,” says David Jewitt, who was not involved in the study. Indeed, “nobody knows what it means,” says this astronomer at the University of California, Los Angeles.

originally posted by: gortex
The object was first spotted in 2006 but its strangeness was only realised in 2012 when astronomers noticed the asteroid had comet-like characteristics , namely a tail , and that it was in fact two similarly sized objects orbiting each other.

This is kind of..the opposite to comet 67P that Rosetta visited, where there were some surmises that 67P was two artifacts fused together. If that means the two parts of 67P orbited each other at some time before they collided I don't know...but it might mean that these two might do the same at some stage, either by their own volition, or some other force.

a reply to: RadioRobert

Thanks for the add RadioRobert

There's some weird stuff out there.

very cool

a reply to: gortex

Fascinating. Nice share

Upon reading Graham Hancock and watching his documentaries, i cant stop thinking about the "serpent in the sky".
Many different people around the world talk about a serpent in the sky, and all of them speak of the great flood.

Maybe it was a comet/asteroid caught in Earths gravity for a few years/months, then slammed into the the great colossal ice at the north? Considering the ice age ended quite quickly (see ice cores), this could have started a world wide mega flooding.



More believable than the Ancient Astronaut theory... imho.

Isnt that the direction that planet x is supposed to hit Jupiter (the king) and make war with Michael (Mars) or something like that? Dragging a third of the stars with it? Or is this a taboo subject? After all we are only 2 days away from Sept 23rd when the astronomy symbols match the biblical Revelation 12.

www.youtube.com...

a reply to: misskat1

There is no planet X / Niburi.

There might be a solar twin, since most stars in our galaxy are binary



Again look at ice cores... some major cataclysm at a defined interval, pointing to a brown star.

a reply to: gortex

Is that the sign that Nibiru is coming on Saturday?
Awesome find. Thank you.
Two pieces of comet orbiting each other. How cool is that?

originally posted by: kloejen
a reply to: misskat1

There is no planet X / Niburi.

There might be a solar twin, since most stars in our galaxy are binary

There is no solar twin. It would be very hard to miss one if it existed.

A 'slingshot' propulsion system?

One object were pulls the other, then that pulled object in turn pulls its partner forward. Like a relay race with only 2 runners and energy instead of a baton.

originally posted by: wildespace

There is no solar twin. It would be very hard to miss one if it existed.

But a dead star could exist within the Solar System.

There are astronomers who say planet 9, the one that is farthest away within the Oort Cloud, is a large planet 10-20 Earth sizes. But one of the teams of astronomers, the Mexicans, say they believe it could be a dead star.

(Phys.org)—Two separate teams of researchers (one from Mexico, the other Sweden), have incited skepticism among the astronomy community by posting papers on the preprint server arXiv each describing a different large object they observed in the outer edges of the solar system. Both teams made their observations after reviewing data from ALMA—a cluster of radio dishes in the Chilean mountains.
...
The Swedish team nick-named the object they observed Gna, after a Nordic God known for its swiftness, and have told the press they had no intention of suggesting they had found the mythical Planet X which supposedly lies somewhere beyond Pluto. Instead they suggest it might be a large asteroid. The team from Mexico went a little further suggesting that the object they observed might possibly turn out to be a brown dwarf.
...

phys.org...


Also, here is another mention that another team of astronomers found a fast moving object in the outer fringes of the solar system, and they say it could indeed be a brown dwarf, or it could be something else. That paper was withdrawn until more information was found.

A super-Earth in our solar system? Not so fast.
Astronomers quietly submitted a research paper claiming they may have found a large planet on the far fringes of our solar system.
By Nathaniel Scharping | Published: Friday, December 11, 2015
...
While examining the Alpha Centauri star system, the nearest to Earth, they noticed a fast-moving object crossing their field of view.

Its speed and brightness allowed them to rule out another star as the culprit, and based on wavelength readings obtained from ALMA, they believe it could be a Trans-Neptunian Object (TNO) orbiting the sun somewhere between 10 billion and 2 trillion miles from our home star. For comparison, Pluto is less than 4 billion miles away from the sun.

Although the finding is intriguing, the news has been met with a healthy dose of skepticism.

A New Member of the Solar System?

Stars typically emit too much light for astronomers to discern any objects in their immediate vicinity, but the ALMA observatory was built to capture low-frequency wavelengths, allowing researchers to see objects that are closer to stars. This is how researchers noticed a mysterious object moving relative to Alpha Centauri, exhibiting what scientists call “proper motion.” The researchers suggest the object could be one of several celestial bodies, including a brown dwarf, a super-Earth (a planet larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune), or a much smaller, icy body orbiting beyond Pluto.
...

www.astronomy.com...

Here is an abstract of the research paper.

A new submm source within a few arcseconds of α Centauri: ALMA discovers the most distant object of the solar system
R. Liseau, W. Vlemmings, E. O'Gorman, E. Bertone, M. Chavez, V. De la Luz
(Submitted on 8 Dec 2015 (v1), last revised 17 Dec 2015 (this version, v2))

We recently announced the detection of an unknown submillimeter source in our ALMA observations of alpha Cen AB. The source was detected in two epochs, a strong detection at 445~GHz and one at lower significance at 343.5~GHz. After valuable feedback of the community, it turns out that the detection at 343.5~GHz could not be reproduced with a different reduction software nor with fitting within the (u,v)-plane. The detection at 445~GHz has been further confirmed with modeling of the (u,v)-data and was shown to be robust at >12σ, confirming our detection of this unknown source. However, based on only one epoch, further analysis and preferably new data are needed, before publication of an article in which the nature of the new source can be discussed. The analysis has indicated the importance of both (u,v)-plane fitting and alternative data reduction when dealing with low signal to noise source detections.

Comments: withdrawn until further data is available
Subjects: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
Cite as: arXiv:1512.02652 [astro-ph.SR]
(or arXiv:1512.02652v2 [astro-ph.SR] for this version)

arxiv.org...

Anyway, my bad this is derailing the thread.

Yep Nibiru will jump out of the 4th dimension tomorrow and swing by Earth. But here is the kicker, it can only be seen by those in the 4th or higher lol. Ya I heard that one before.

originally posted by: ElectricUniverse

originally posted by: wildespace

There is no solar twin. It would be very hard to miss one if it existed.

But a dead star could exist within the Solar System.

There are astronomers who say planet 9, the one that is farthest away within the Oort Cloud, is a large planet 10-20 Earth sizes. But one of the teams of astronomers, the Mexicans, say they believe it could be a dead star.

Note the numerous appearance of the word "skepticism". Lots of astronomers deem those propositions highly unlikely. We've spotted very small and cold brown dwarfs many light years away from the Solar System; it's extremely unlikely that there's a brown dwarf that's gravitationally bound to our Sun. (Besides, wouldn't the Sun in a binary system orbit the common point between the two?) An ice giant somewhere out there, yes, very possible, but not a brown dwarf, and definitely not a proper star.

a reply to: wildespace

I'm not up to scratch on my astronomy but wouldn't it be easier to find dwarf stars that are part of a binary system than founding our own if we had one?

Find a star, look in it's general direction for it's partner. The partner isn't going to be on the other side of the universe, or it wouldn't be binary.

We've got a full 360° to look at, yes gravity could give subtle clues and such but you're still looking for a needle in a haystack.

As I see it, we can't use the rule of thumb approach to astronomy, our books constantly change as our perception improves.

Rogue planets and failed stars are apparently a reality. Would our solar system being a binary one not be possible?

We'll keep detecting new things, new phenomena. Brown stars were only a theory 50 or so years ago.

originally posted by: RadioRobert
a reply to: Black_Fox

Let me guess: you're part of the problem?

On topic, here's an interesting link I found while looking to read more about this. These hybrids are apparently called centaurs. This one's a different hybrid than the one in the OP. It's not binary -- but it has a ring!
www.sciencenewsforstudents.org...

Astronomers have discovered a pair of thin rings encircling 10199 Chariklo. It’s a rock-and-ice asteroid-comet hybrid, also known as a centaur.
...
"There’s no doubt that there’s a ring,” says David Jewitt, who was not involved in the study. Indeed, “nobody knows what it means,” says this astronomer at the University of California, Los Angeles.

So it spins ?