Near-Earth Asteroid Turned Out to be a Secretly Cometary Object

Near-Earth Asteroid Turned Out to be a Secretly Cometary Object

A near-Earth asteroid that was tracked since 1998 has been found to be a secretly cometary object, nudged off its path by escaping gas. The discovery was made by astronomers using a combination of ground-based and space-based telescopes. The asteroid, which is about 1 kilometer in diameter, was found to have a tail of gas and dust, which is characteristic of comets. The discovery was made using a combination of ground-based and space-based telescopes, including the Hubble Space Telescope. The asteroid is now classified as a comet, and its orbit has been updated to reflect its new status.