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News and Views
Nature 454, 173-174 (10 July 2008) | doi:10.1038/454173a; Published online 9 July 2008
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Research Associate
- University of Glasgow
- Glasgow, UK
Paleobiologist / Biogeochemist
- University of Cincinnati
- Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Asteroids: How to make a flying saucer
William F. Bottke1
Abstract
Wherever we look in the Solar System, small bodies often seem to come in twos. Simulations show how asteroids spun in the Sun can produce such pairings — one of whose members acquires a strangely familiar shape.
When I was a kid, I used to stay up on weekends to watch the late-night monster movies on television. As I recall, a fair number of these films involved little green men (or women) arriving in flying saucers.
- William F. Bottke is in the Department of Space Studies, Southwest Research Institute, 1050 Walnut Street, Boulder, Colorado 80302, USA.
Email: bottke@boulder.swri.edu
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