NASA Finds Bizarre X-Shaped Comet

NASA Finds Bizarre X-Shaped Comet

www.newser.com

But the object is perplexing in several ways. Scientists can’t explain the X shape, or its behavior. “We expected to the debris field to expand dramatically, like shrapnel flying from a hand grenade,” said one astronomer. Instead it’s “expanding very slowly.”

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Related News Links:
www.nasa.gov
www.bbc.co.uk

Using the Hubble Telescope, NASA scientists have discovered a recent asteroid collision that has them scratching their heads. It's "x" shaped and should have a larger debris field but it doesn't. This amazes me simply because the universe is unknown, and the picture looks menacing, like something from sci-fi.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/00141fb8f429.jpg[/atsimg]

www.newser.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I remember seeing this.
2nd

wow
thanks for the thread

Sounds cool
if you go here you can see the comet's trail expand extremely extremely slowly
www.huffingtonpost.com...

Now that is very slowly....

reply to post by Jason88


I am not sure why the article is dated today as if this is new, because this image has been discussed here:
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Fascinating for sure, but covered in detail...

peace

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


I thought I searched out ATS fairly well before posting, but thanks for the heads-up about former posts.

The NASA website dated it yesterday, but I'm not sure why either - maybe at the time it didn't get enough attention so they're re-releasing it again (that's a somewhat fairly common practice, especially if an organization's news gets buried, they'll refresh and post again as new).

I must say more than anything, it just goes to show you that scientists don't know much about space. The second they assume one thing another comes along and proves them wrong. But, that's the nature of the game. The picture too strikes me as something like alien craft... but that's my sci-fi mind.

Originally posted by Ophiuchus 13
I remember seeing this.
2nd

edit on 10/14/10 by Ophiuchus 13 because: (no reason given)

Yeah, I saw that pic before too. I don't remember if it was on ATS.

Yes, this comet has been discussed quite a bit here. I think the new twist is that the debris has been expanding much slower than one would anticipate given its presumably violent origin.

reply to post by Jason88


"...Like something from sci-fi."
That just may be right, more specifically right to signs of a late Stage I or Stage II civilization.

Comets have always been a puzzle to the scientists. Just when they think they have them figured out, they gain new scientific data and it turns the old theory on its head. But since they are there, for all to see, they MUST explain them in some fashion. So they do. Bizarre as it may seem, I suggest you think of comets as the UFO of deep space.

This is pretty neat. I was also just reading another article about it at MSNC. They believe that they actually have first-ever pictures of "the aftermath of an asteroid collision in space."