Asteroid Collision Photographed

NASA, ESA, and D. Jewitt (UCLA)

Close up of an X-shaped objected spotted by astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope between January and May 2010. The images show the object P/2010 A2, an X-shaped objected created by two colliding asteroids.

Astronomers now have the first confirmed snapshots of what appears to be the aftermath of an asteroid collision in space.

When scientists first discovered the object dubbed P/2010 A2 in the asteroid belt in January using the Rosetta spacecraft, the fact that it trailed a tail made them think it was a comet. A closer look, however, suggested it was something more peculiar — images from the Hubble Space Telescope revealed it had a bizarre X-shape nucleus, for instance. [Photo of the odd X-shape in space.]

“When I saw the Hubble image I knew it was something special,” said researcher Jessica Agarwal, a European Space Agency astronomer in the Netherlands.

Astronomers suspect a rock maybe 10-16 feet (3-5 meters) wide slammed into a larger asteroid at speeds of about 11,200 mph (18,000 kph) with a detonation as powerful as a small atomic bomb, said researcher David Jewitt, an astronomer at the University of California in Los Angeles and leader of the Hubble observations. 

“We have directly observed a collision between asteroids for the first time, instead of having to infer that they happened from million-year-old remains,” researcher Colin Snodgrass, a planetary scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany, told SPACE.com

via Fox News

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Losing Freedom Of Speech?

Oct. 21) — NPR has fired longtime news analyst Juan Williams after he told the Fox News Channel that he gets nervous when he sees Muslims on airplanes.

Williams appeared on “The O’Reilly Factor” on Monday, and host Bill O’Reilly asked him what he thought about the idea that America is facing a “Muslim dilemma.” The Fox News personality caused a stir recently on ABC’s “The View,” when co-hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg walked off the set to protest his comments blaming Muslims for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

 

Longtime NPR news analyst Juan Williams was fired because comments he made on Fox News “were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices,” NPR said in a statement.

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Are we losing our freedom of speech? Should he fear his employer?  This man stated an opinion of what a large portion  of  the American population may think, and he gets fired for voicing his own opinion? We preach tolerance, we preach peace, we preach freedom of speech.  A lot of things can be scary, but an opinion!? Was his personal opinion grounds for being fired? This is America, this your voice!! We’ll be tackling this subject on Sunday’s show.