Astronomers have discovered a strange asteroid in our solar system

There are many celestial objects in our solar system, such as asteroids. But while they are all different, astronomers have discovered for the first time an asteroid with an unusual shape.

In fact, this asteroid, named 44 Nysa, was first discovered in 1870 as a bright point of light in the sky. In addition, with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers made several observations. However, they were unable to learn more about its shape.

Thus, by studying it using the Very Large Telescope and the Large Binocular Telescope, they were able to observe it and discovered that it has three lobes, making it the first asteroid of its kind ever observed. And regarding this discovery, Kate Minker of Arizona's Lowell Observatory explained: 

"The images reveal a remarkably unusual object. The most likely explanation is that Nysa is either a contact trinary, consisting of three connected components, or an extremely irregular coherent body unlike anything we've previously observed."

As a result, using the Sphere and Shark-Vis instruments on both telescopes, scientists were able to estimate that the asteroid measures about 47 miles (75.6 km) in diameter. They also detected a moon measuring one kilometer in diameter orbiting this celestial object.

As for its shape, researchers have put forward several hypotheses, and some believe that a collision with another more massive asteroid occurred in the past, distorting 44 Nysa's mantle. However, some mysteries remain, and further studies will be needed to help scientists to better understand this celestial object.