Archivo de imágenes de Hubble

La brillante mancha superficial de Centauro podría ser un cráter de hielo fresco

This is an artist's impression of object called 8405 Asbolus, a 48-mile-wide (80-kilometer) chunk of ice and dust that lies between Saturn and Uranus. Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope were surprised to find that one side of the object (also called a Centaur) looks...

Fecha
Jan 1, 2000
Misión
Hubble Space Telescope
ID de archivo
hubblesite-images-2000-31-993-image
Por

This is an artist's impression of object called 8405 Asbolus, a 48-mile-wide (80-kilometer) chunk of ice and dust that lies between Saturn and Uranus. Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope were surprised to find that one side of the object (also called a Centaur) looks like it has a fresh crater less than 10 million years old, exposing bright underlying ice Hubble didn't directly see the crater - the object is too small and far away - but a measure of its surface composition shows a complex chemistry. The event that caused the impact crater on 8405 Asbolus may also have knocked it out of the Kuiper belt, a ring of comet nuclei just beyond Pluto's orbit.

Credits

Illustration: Greg Bacon (STScI/AVL)

Research: Donald W. McCarthy and Susan D. Kern (University of Arizona)

Detalles de la imagen

About The Object
Object Name8405 Asbolus, Centaur

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Fuente

La imagen y el material de referencia se acreditan al archivo oficial de la misión enlazado a continuación.

Ver en NASA.gov

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