File:2006VW139.gif

Original file(985 × 554 pixels, file size: 9.69 MB, MIME type: image/gif, looped, 65 frames, 6.9 s)

Summary

Description
English: This time-lapse video, assembled from a set of Hubble Space Telescope photos, reveals two asteroids orbiting each other that have comet-like features. The asteroid pair, called 2006 VW139/288P, was observed in September 2016, just before the asteroid made its closest approach to the Sun. The photos revealed ongoing activity in the binary system. The apparent movement of the tail is a projection effect due to the relative alignment between the Sun, Earth, and 2006 VW139/288P changing between observations. The tail orientation is also affected by a change in the particle size. Initially, the tail was pointing towards the direction where comparatively large (about 1 millimeter in size) dust particles were emitted in late July. However, from Sept. 20 on, the tail began to point in the opposite direction from the Sun as the pressure of sunlight affects smaller (10 microns in size) dust particles where they are blown away from the nucleus by radiation pressure. Credits: NASA, ESA, and J. DePasquale and Z. Levay (STScI)
Date
Source https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/2017/09/20/comet-or-asteroid-hubble-discovers-that-a-unique-object-is-a-binary
Author NASA

Licensing

Public domain This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.)
Warnings:

Captions

Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents

Items portrayed in this file

depicts

22 August 2016

image/gif

3908fbef8078543469bf6686f8cbbec12d51f320

10,163,970 byte

6.89999999999999 second

554 pixel

985 pixel

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current12:37, 21 September 2017Thumbnail for version as of 12:37, 21 September 2017985 × 554 (9.69 MB)Jonathan ChoneUser created page with UploadWizard
The following pages on the English Wikipedia use this file (pages on other projects are not listed):

Global file usage

The following other wikis use this file: