The Sun's Scouring Blade: Unraveling the Mystery of the Disintegrating Asteroid A recent discovery has shed light on a phenomenon that has puzzled astronomers for centuries: the fate of small asteroids near the Sun.
A newly identified meteor stream, comprising 282 meteors, appears to be the result of an asteroid slowly disintegrating under the intense heat of our star.
While comets have been known to release gas and dust as they approach the Sun, asteroids have generally been considered dry, rocky bodies incapable of releasing their own material into space.