The Hubble telescope spotted an asteroid that has grown two tails — and scientists think it's ripping itself to pieces

- A 2.5-mile-wide asteroid called 6478 Gault was discovered in 1988. - The space rock recently grew two long, bright tails like a comet, which astronomers struggled to explain. - The Hubble telescope studied the tails in detail, while ground-based observatories helped confirm the asteroid was rapidly spinning. - Researchers figured that sunlight gradually spun up Gault's rotational speed to unstable levels — something called a "YORP effect." - Gault is spinning so quickly that a small pebble hitting the asteroid might have caused it to slough off dirt and dust, forming its tails. In space, ...

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- A 2.5-mile-wide asteroid called 6478 Gault was discovered in 1988. - The space rock recently grew two long, bright tails like a comet, which astronomers struggled to explain. - The Hubble telescope studied the tails in detail, while ground-based observatories helped confirm the asteroid was rapidly spinning. - Researchers figured that sunlight gradually spun up Gault's rotational speed to unstable levels — something called a "YORP effect." - Gault is spinning so quickly that a small pebble hitting the asteroid might have caused it to slough off dirt and dust, forming its tails. In space, ...