Strangest Objects Ever Discovered In The Solar System

Observations by the Hubble Space Telescope are revealing new details about a strange binary asteroid that's performing double-duty as a comet. It's the first time scientists have ever seen such a thing.

Back in 2006, Spacewatch discovered an asteroid named 300163 (2006 VW139). Astronomers using the Pan-STARRS telescope detected some comet-like activity coming from the object in 2011, so it was also given a comet designation of 288P. Now, things have changed yet again.

When the object made its closest approach to the Sun last year, a German-led team of scientists used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to make observations, revealing not one but two asteroids. Which means it's a binary system.

The objects are almost the same size and mass, and they're orbiting each other at a distance of 100km.

But here's the thing — the asteroids each have a coma (a bright halo of ejected material) and are together producing a single long tail of dust — the quintessential characteristics of a comet. It's now the first known binary asteroid that's also considered a main asteroid belt comet.

UCJ, UNILORIN.