Image: NASA/ESA/D.Jewitt, the incomparable Hubble, STScl 2010 07

This is incredible, and just released yesterday.  Tom and I got the release yesterday morning, but waited until NASA could get the image up.  NASA/ESA had it ready last night.  They are so awesome.

Scientist believe that Hubble captured something long suspected, but never seen:  An asteroid collision in the Asteroid Belt.  Asteroid collisions are what NASA calls “energetic” (I just bet they are), and believe they collide at about 11,000 mph, or about 5 times the speed of a rifle bullet.  Hubble imaged this January 25th and 29th with the new Wide Field Camera 3.  It was about 90 million miles from the Earth.  That’s fairly close for Hubble, but it can image objects as small as the size of a house at that distance.

There’s plenty of evidence for ancient collisions, but we’ve never been able to catch one in modern times.  Scientists have identified the remains of the collision that resulted in an Earth asteroid strike 65 million years ago.  We all know the end story of that little adventure.

NASA has the whole story here, and it’s worth a read.