Cleopatra and her children appear in space

Cleopatra and her children appear in space

A team of scientists have managed to get the best images of one of the strangest asteroids seen in space, due to its odd shape that has puzzled scientists for decades since its first discovery.

Astronomers have captured new images of the asteroid “216 Kleopatra”, one of the strangest planets seen in space due to its very strange shape, which has been compared to “the bone of a dog “.

According to “Sputnik”, astronomers from the “SETI” Institute in California and the Institute of Astronomy in Marseille, France, used the Large Telescope (VLT) of the Southern European Observatory, to capture very sharp images of the strange planet “Cleopatra 216”, and this was observed clearly and very exciting. .

The asteroid was first discovered on April 10, 1880, when it was observed rotating in an orbit between Jupiter and Mars.

Although it has been discovered in the past, it was not clearly seen on radar until 20 years ago, as it appeared in a very strange way that had not been seen before in the world of space, which has been compared to “the bone of a dog.”

In 2018, astronomer Frank Marches and his colleagues discovered that this asteroid orbiting two moons, “AlexHelios” (Alexander Helios) and “CleoSelene” (Cleopatra Selene II), which are the names of the sons of the most famous Egyptian queen of the world Cleopatra.

Frank Marches, who led a lengthy asteroid study published in the Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics (aanda), confirmed that Cleopatra is a very unique object in our solar system.

The scientist noted that science is making remarkable progress today in observing strange and anomalies in space, noting that this asteroid is one of those very strange cases in this mysterious world. .

Using high contrast exoplanet research (SPHERE) observed using telescope imagery between 2017 and 2019, Marchis’ team determined the width of the asteroid to be about 168 miles, or about 270 km.

The team of scientists were able to create a three-dimensional view of the body that appeared as a “dog bone” because they discovered that one end of this bone is larger than the other, and the neck of the asteroid Cleopatra appeared clearly in space.

“This problem had to be solved. Because if the orbits of these moons were wrong, everything would be wrong, including Cleopatra’s mass,” said astronomer Miroslav Pros, of Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, who led the previous study.