Hubble Observes Six Tails from an Unusual Asteroid

On November 7th, the Space Telescope Science Institute released observations of an asteroid, designated P/2013 P5 that showed six comet-like tails of dust radiating from it like spokes on a wheel.

These results were extremely surprising and astronomers found it hard to believe they were looking at an asteroid.

Please join us as we discuss this discovery with Dr. David Jewitt from UCLA, the team lead of the researchers who made the #Hubble observations, along with +Max Mutchler +Tony Darnell +Alberto Conti +Ian O'Neill and +Scott Lewis

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Is this asteroid thought to have broken off of ISON?  How long are its tails and will they pass through the Earth's orbit?