The cause of asteroid Scheila's outburst
(PhysOrg.com) -- A remarkable discovery was made by astronomers on 12 December 2010: an asteroid named Scheila had changed its appearance and looked more like a comet, complete with bright tail. An international team of scientists have used innovative modeling techniques to support the idea that the cause was another object impacting Scheila, ejecting material from the asteroid. The lead scientist of this study, Fernando Moreno of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía in Granada, Spain, will present the groups theory complete with up-to-date and refined estimates of impact date and size on Friday 7th October in Nantes, France at the joint meeting of the European Planetary Science Congress and the American Astronomical Societys Division for Planetary Sciences.
