In the Solar system found a unique object
Using the Hubble space telescope, astronomers have discovered in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter unusual object: two asteroids orbiting each other, while having the properties of comets (bright coma and long tail).
About the first known double asteroid-comet reported in the journal Nature.
Detail to see the object 288P scientists were able in September 2016, at the time of its closest approach to the Earth. The pictures showed that it was not one object, but two asteroids about the same size and mass, rotating around each other at a distance of approximately 100 kilometers.
Further, during observations, it was found that in this binary system there is a constant sublimation of water ice, a process similar to what creates a comet tail. Thus, 288P was the first famous astronomers of a double asteroid, which is also a main belt comet.
Main features 288P — a large distance between the two elements, their almost identical size, “cometary” activity — make it unique among so quite a rare double asteroids in the solar system. According to astronomers, dual 288P was only about 5,000 years ago (judging by the presence of ice on its surface). Most likely, it broke into two parts due to fast rotation.