Anatomy of asteroids

European astronomers used telescopes in Chile to analyze the structure of an asteroid, providing the first evidence that these celestial bodies may possess very different internal structures.

Telescope The new Southern European Observatory (ESA) technology at the La Silla Observatory conducted a detailed measurement of asteroids called Itokawa.

Itokawa asteroid slices - (Photo: ESO)

The results show that each part of it has a completely different structure, according to Space.com, leading a press release from ESO headquarters in Germany.

Determining the composition of asteroids can help predict what will happen if these objects collide with each other in the solar system, and provide information about how the planets form. fine.

Itokawa is an interesting research object, with the appearance of a giant peanut, discovered by the Japanese cruise ship Hayabusa in 2005.

'This is the first time we have been able to identify the interior of an asteroid,' said Stephen Lowry of the University of Kent in England.

The difference in the structure of the Itokawa asteroids part has led some experts to think that it was formed when two asteroids collided in the process of traveling inside the solar system.