Last week the Hubble Telescope detected an object moving eleven thousand miles per hour streaking across the sky ninety million miles from Earth between Mars and Jupiter through an asteroid belt. The massive object has been met with a small amount of head scratching and a story that it is likely just a comet blasted into a strange shape by other bodies in space.
David Jewitt, the leading scientist from the University of California reported that the object was likely blasted to its new shape by a recent collision between it and two asteroids. It’s suspected to be the first such case ever caught in the act. Astronomers largely agree with the explanation, but some are taking a skeptical view of this attempt to explain the mysterious shape.
For years astronomers have been studying asteroids in an attempt to understand how to break them apart. With detection of several potentially devastating asteroids moving toward the Earth, this study could prove to be of great interest not only to astronomers for the purpose of general astronomical information, but to all life on Earth as it could help Earth fight off what could be the greatest natural disaster in modern history.
As can be seen in images, the object clearly has a tail behind it suggesting a comet, though the nucleus is severed from the tail. The entire sky is far too large for astronomers to scan thoroughly with current funding, and with NASA’s funding to be cut to the point of the space program seeking out private funding, it’s now going to be near impossible for the sky to be thoroughly detected, making any advanced planning to deflect or destroy incoming objects all the more important to make before the objects become a potential problem.
Many have theorized that a massively devastating asteroid was responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs, and another such impact would be devastating to not only the civilizations they hit, but also the human race as a whole. Such an impact has the potential of being an extinction level event, destroying all large complex fauna and blocking out the sun for years afterward in a way very similar to the potential fallout of an intercontinental nuclear war.
And this object discovered by the Hubble, whose funding will be drastically cut according to the new budget proposal for NASA, is promising to be a major potential breakthrough in asteroid research. With so much war between nations, and the money that goes into machines that are designed to kill one another, perhaps we should have a collaborative effort on fighting our true common opponent, the potential devastating power of a massive asteroid. And if it’s not motivation enough, keep in mind that we’re almost due for a major close call coming up in the next twenty years. Are we going to be prepared, or will we find we spent all our defense budget on one another rather than a hurtling asteroid? Only time will tell, though some fear less time than we think.