Astronomers hone in on the cause of asteroid Scheila’s outburst
Sunday, October 9, 2011 - 21:30
in Astronomy & Space
A remarkable discovery was made by astronomers on Dec. 12, 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.