Asteroid-comet hybrid stuns scientists: ‘Like nothing we’ve seen before’

It really rocked their world.

Scientists using the James Webb Space Telescope have better observed an asteroid that strangely possesses hybrid characteristics of a comet as well.

The strange rock mass, first spotted in 1977, has been identified as 2060 Chiron and is classified as a centaur — named for the mythological hybrid half-man, half-horse — and orbits the sun once every 50 years from the far reaches between the gigantic, gaseous planets Jupiter and Neptune.

Chiron may hold important information about our solar system’s nature. William Gonzalez Sierra

Experts at the University of Central Florida, published in “Astronomy & Astrophysics,” are studying Chiron because it uniquely contains a solidified icy exterior and gasses coming from a region of its interior called a coma.

“These results are like nothing we’ve seen before,” said researcher Charles Schambeau of the “oddball” centaur.

Researcher Noemí Pinilla-Alonso explained that the composition is uncharacteristic of objects near Neptune. Its gaseous and solid states, which lead to behavior like that of an asteroid and a comet, are also head-scratchers.

Now, Chiron can explain how similar space rocks can exist within our solar system.

Schambeau added that the high-powered Webb telescope “has made it accessible” to analyze gas-based objects far from the sun.

The recent research shed new light on Chiron, first found almost half a century ago.

“These detections enhance our understanding of Chiron’s interior composition and how that material produces the unique behaviors as we observe Chiron,” said Schambeau.

The researchers also suggest that much of Chiron’s gas, such as carbon dioxide and methane, is primordial and dates back to before our sun formed millions of years ago. Pinilla-Alonso believes the hybrid holds answers about the early universe.

Chiron is peculiar for embodying some traits like an asteroid and others as a comet. William Gonzalez Sierra

“All the small bodies in the solar system talk to us about how it was back in time, which is a period of time we can’t really observe anymore,” she said. “But active centaurs tell us much more.”

Pinilla-Alonso added that the team intends to “follow up” with Chiron as it approaches Earth and the sun.

The goal is to “study it at nearer distances and get better reads on the quantities and nature of the ices” to understand its behavior better.