The double asteroid
(WorldNews Germany)

An object with the name 288P is the only known active asteroid comprising two components September 20, 2017 Body 288P, which orbits the Sun in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, is unique: It not only belongs to the group of unusual asteroids discharging dust and gas into space - and thus behaving highly atypically for a `resident` of the asteroid belt - it also comprises two separate components rotating around a common centre of gravity. This is suggested by Hubble Space Telescope data, which a team of scientists under the leadership of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, has now analyzed. This makes 288P the first know active binary asteroid. It...