Asteroid 24 Themis

Asteroid 24 Themis
Asteroid 24 Themis Artist concept of asteroid 24 Themis and two small fragments of this dynamical family, which resulted from a large impact more than one billion years ago. Note that one of the small fragments is inert (as most asteroids are) and the other has a comet-like tail, produced by the sublimation of water ice from its surface. Gabriel Pérez, Servicio Multimedia / IAC