It Is Time; The Sun Is Darkening; Only Faith Will Survive: Wall Street Journal Says "Something Is Up With The Sun"

All the universe will be struck with terror and many will let themselves be lead astray because they have not worshipped the true Christ who lives among them. It is time; the sun is darkening; only faith will survive. Our Lady of La Salette 19 Sept. 1846 (Published by Mélanie 1879)

Something is up with the sun.

Scientists say that solar activity is stranger than in a century or more, with the sun producing barely half the number of sunspots as expected and its magnetic poles oddly out of sync. WSJ Read More>>>>
 

Shaking Our Fist At God Just Like Our Forefathers Did At The Tower Of Babel! Russian Cosmonauts Take Olympic Torch On Spacewalk 260 Miles Above Earth Ahead Of Sochi Winter Games

BRUEGEL, Pieter the Elder
The "Little" Tower of Babel (detail)
c. 1564

The tower of Babel fell - or better yet - God's hand pushed it over. God allowed the evil work to reach a height exceeding the level that the waters of the Deluge reached or about 15 cubits above the mountain tops.

Much easier to build a 29,051 foot tower than to give up sin!

Nimrod was the man who had the idea to build the tower in order to escape any more floods that God was going to send his way. For Nimrod it was easier to build a 29,051 foot tower and continue to sin and escape God's punishment, than to forsake sin and  do the will of God. Think about that for a moment - Nimrod knew God punished sin with the waters of the Deluge so instead of doing the will of God he would rather build the highest tower in the history of man to escape any more punishments.  What a fucking idiot! Sin held more attraction for him than the love of God. He paid for it in the end.

What effort and toil went into building the tower! - any time to sin? Where did they find the time to sin?

In order for Nimrod to be safe from any more floods, Nimrod must of known what level the waters of the Deluge reached. Nimrod knew the level to be 15 cubits above the mountain tops.

For those godless NASA scientists who have not cracked open a Bible - here is the story of Nimrod and the tower of Babel

And the earth was of one tongue, and of the same speech. And when they removed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Sennaar, and dwelt in it. And each one said to his neighbour: Come, let us make brick, and bake them with fire. And they had brick instead of stones, and slime instead of mortar. And they said: Come, let us make a city and a tower, the top whereof may reach to heaven: and let us make our name famous before we be scattered abroad into all lands. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of Adam were building. And he said: Behold, it is one people, and all have one tongue: and they have begun to do this, neither will they leave off from their designs, till they accomplish them in deed. Come ye, therefore, let us go down, and there confound their tongue, that they may not understand one another's speech. And so the Lord scattered them from that place into all lands, and they ceased to build the city. And therefore the name thereof was called Babel, because there the language of the whole earth was confounded: and from thence the Lord scattered them abroad upon the face of all countries. Gen.viii.i-ix.

Why is the 29,051 foot boundary so important? Well, all the works of men that is all holy works and all profane works must burn up in the fire of the final conflagration at the end of days. That means everything! Now of course none of you believe this, and none of you care.

Because of your indifference, God will send you a wake up call - just like God sent wake up calls to those who built the tower of Babel. Nimrod did not listen - and guess what neither will any of you.

No, none of us listen. Just recently someone got into their head to send up the Olympic torch 260 miles above earth to the International Space Station:

260 Miles Above Earth!

Higher Than The Tower of Babel!

This is the spectacular moment two Russian cosmonauts took the OIympic torch on its first historic spacewalk ahead of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazansky carried an unlit version of the feather-shaped symbol through the hatch of the International Space Station today. Daily Mail Read More>>>>>

The Olympic torch is just another example of man overreaching his bounds.  As a warning or a sign or an evil portent or evil omen or what ever have you maybe God this time will send one and maybe it will appear at the Sochi Winter Games involving the Olympic torch that was sent 260 miles above the set boundary of 29,050 feet - all done to mock God and His set boundary.

Man has spent about 50 years above this set boundary - you would think that sooner or later God is gonna take notice.

For those who are not familiar with this blog, all the space junk etc. that was sent above the 29,051 foot level has to come back here to earth to burn up in the fire of the final conflagration - reason? The fire of the final conflagration is in the bowels of the earth, and it will be released at the end of days to do the will of God and it will cleanse all the sinful works of men both holy and profane. Yes, even the profane space works of men that were shot billions an billions of miles into space. All of it no matter how far away it was shot into space must come back below the set boundary of 29,051 feet.

So expect all the shit that was shot into space to come back someday. How? by the agency of the Angels. Because sure as hell none of you are gonna retrieve any of it.

Here, read the words of St Thomas Aquinas on the doctrine of the Fire of the Final Conflagration:

According to St. Thomas Aquinas, the fire of the final conflagration will destroy all the works of men. Every single work by the hand of man will be cleansed by the fire of the final conflagration - St. Thomas Aquinas tells us: "that since the world was, in a way, made for man's sake, it follows that, when man shall be glorified in the body, the other bodies of the world shall also be changed to a better state, so that it is rendered a more fitting place for him and more pleasant to look upon. Now in order that man obtain the glory of the body, it behooves first of all those things to be removed which are opposed to glory. There are two, namely the corruption and stain of sin---because according to 1 Cor. 15:50, "neither shall corruption possess incorruption," and all the unclean shall be without the city of glory (Apoc. 22:15)---and again, the elements require to be cleansed from the contrary dispositions, ere they be brought to the newness of glory, proportionately to what we have said with regard to man. Now although, properly speaking, a corporeal thing cannot be the subject of the stain of sin, nevertheless, on account of sin corporeal things contract a certain unfittingness for being appointed to spiritual purposes; and for this reason we find that places where crimes have been committed are reckoned unfit for the performance of sacred actions therein, unless they be cleansed beforehand. Accordingly that part of the world which is given to our use contracts from men's sins a certain unfitness for being glorified, wherefore in this respect it needs to be cleansed. In like manner with regard to the intervening space, on account of the contact of the elements, there are many corruptions, generations and alterations of the elements, which diminish their purity: wherefore the elements need to be cleansed from these also, so that they be fit to receive the newness of glory."

St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that fire will be the cleansing instrument: "As stated above (A[1]) this cleansing of the world will remove from it the stain contracted from sin, and the impurity resulting from mixture, and will be a disposition to the perfection of glory; and consequently in this threefold respect it will be most fitting for it to be effected by fire. First, because since fire is the most noble of the elements, its natural properties are more like the properties of glory, and this is especially clear in regard to light. Secondly, because fire, on account of the efficacy of its active virtue, is not as susceptible as the other elements to the admixture of a foreign matter. Thirdly, because the sphere of fire is far removed from our abode; nor are we so familiar with the use of fire as with that of earth, water, and air, so that it is not so liable to depreciation. Moreover, it is most efficacious in cleansing and in separating by a process of rarefaction."

St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that this fire will not exceed the bounds which were cleansed by waters of the deluge: "I answer that, Some [*St. Bonaventure, Sentent. iv, D, 47, A[2], Q[3]] say that the fire in question will rise to the summit of the space containing the four elements: so that the elements would be entirely cleansed both from the stain of sin by which also the higher parts of the elements were infected (as instanced by the smoke of idolatry which stained the higher regions), and again from corruption, since the elements are corruptible in all their parts. But this opinion is opposed to the authority of Scripture, because it is written (2 Pet. 3:7) that those heavens are "kept in store unto fire," which were cleansed by water; and Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xx, 18) that "the same world which perished in the deluge is reserved unto fire." Now it is clear that the waters of the deluge did not rise to the summit of the space occupied by the elements, but only 15 cubits above the mountain tops; and moreover it is known that vapors or any smoke whatever rising from the earth cannot pierce the entire sphere of fire so as to reach its summit; and so the stain of sin did not reach the aforesaid space. Nor can the elements be cleansed from corruptibility by the removal of something that might be consumed by fire: whereas it will be possible for the impurities of the elements arising from their mingling together to be consumed by fire. And these impurities are chiefly round about the earth as far as the middle of the air: wherefore the fire of the final conflagration will cleanse up to that point, since the waters of the deluge rose to a height which can be approximately calculated from the height of the mountains which they surpassed in a fixed measure."

Now it stands to reason that if what St. Thomas Aquinas states is true:

1. that fire of the final conflagration will not exceed the bounds which were cleansed by waters of the deluge (only 15 cubits above the mountain tops)

2. and all of the sinful works of men are to be destroyed in this final conflagration.

Then all of the works of men will one day occupy or reach a height no greater than the 15 cubits above the mountain tops, which was boundary of the waters of the deluge.

What follows then is that all modern man-made works that had left the orbit of the earth such as NASA's Voyager I & II and Mars Rover Spirit and all other spacecrafts will return to the place in which they were created, which will be below the boundary set by the waters of the deluge and that is 15 cubits above the mountain tops.

Again, the Voyager I & II spacecraft & Mars Rover Spirit along with all man-made space objects will one day return to the earth.

Jake Busey

'The millennium is upon us. God has fulfilled his promise, sending us this herald to warn the faithless -- the scientists who tell us He doesn't even exist -- and to promise us, the faithful, we will be saved.' Joseph from the movie Contact 1997

Sinners Will Not Believe in the Divine Threats Until the Chastisement Has Come Upon Them, Part 2 ~ Saint Alphonsus Liguori

Typhoon Haiyan
 

SECOND DISCOURSE:

Sinners Will Not Believe in the Divine Threats Until the Chastisement Has Come Upon Them

 

Part 2

"Let sin be no more for us, my brethren; let us be converted if we wish to escape the scourge which hangs over us. If we do not cease from sin, God will be obliged to punish us: For evil-doers shall be cut off.-----Ps. 26:9.

The obstinate are not only finally shut out from Paradise, but hurried off the earth, lest their example should draw others into Hell. And let us reflect that these temporal scourges are nothing in comparison with those eternal chastisements, hope of relief from which there is none. Give ear, O sinner! my brother, give ear! For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. -----Luke 3:9. The author of the Imperfect Work, in his comment upon this passage, says: "It is said that the axe is laid, not to the branches, but to the root, so that it will be irreparably exterminated." He says that when the branches are lopped, the tree continues still to live; but when the tree is felled from the root, it then dies, and is cast into the fire. The Lord stands with the scourge in His hand, and you still continue in disgrace with Him. The axe is laid to the root. Tremble lest God should make you die in your sins, for if you die thus, you shall be cast into the fire of Hell, where your ruin shall be hopeless for eternity.

But, you will say, I have committed many sins during the past, and the Lord has borne with me. I may, therefore, hope that He will deal mercifully with me for the future. God says, do not speak so: Say not I have sinned, and what harm hath befallen me? For the Most High is a patient rewarder. -----Ecclus. 5:4. Do not say so, for God bears with you now, but He will not always bear with you. He endures to a certain extent, and then pays off all. Now, therefore, stand up, that I may plead in judgment against you concerning all the kindness of the Lord -----1 Kings 7:7., said Samuel to the Hebrews. Oh how powerfully does not the abuse of the Divine mercies assist in procuring the damnation of the ungrateful! Gather them together as sheep for a sacrifice, and prepare them for the day of slaughter. -----Jer. 12:3. In the end the herd of those who will not be converted shall be victims of Divine justice, and the Lord will condemn them to eternal death, on the day of slaughter, when the day of His vengeance shall have arrived (and we have reason always to be in dread, as long as we are not resolved to abandon sin, lest that day should be already near). God is not mocked, for what things a man shall sow, these also shall he reap. -----Gal. 6:7. Sinners expect to mock God by confessing at Easter, or two or three times a year, and then returning to their vomit, and hoping after that to obtain salvation. "He is a mocker, not a penitent," says St. Isidor, "who continues to do that for which he is penitent;" but God is' not mocked.

What salvation? -----what salvation do you expect? For what things a man shall sow, them also shall he reap. What things do you sow? blasphemy, revenge, theft, impurity: what then do you hope for? He who sows in sin can hope to reap nothing but chastisements and Hell. For he that soweth in his flesh, continues the same Apostle, of his flesh also shall reap corruption. Continue, impure wretch! continue to live sunk in the mire of your impurity, your impurities will be converted into pitch within your bowels. "A day shall come," says St. Peter Damian, "a day shall come, or rather a night, when your lust shall be turned into pitch to feed an eternal flame within your bowels."

St. John Chrysostom says that some pretend not to see; they see the chastisements, and pretend not to see them. And then others, St. Ambrose says, have no fear of punishment until they see it has overtaken them. To all these it will happen as it did to mankind at the time of the deluge. The patriarch Noah foretold and announced to them the punishments which God had prepared for their sins; but the sinners would not believe him, and notwithstanding that the ark was building before their eyes, they did not change their lives, but went on sinning until the punishment was upon them, until they were smothered in the deluge. And they knew not till the flood came and took them all away. -----Matt. 24:39. The same happened to the great Babylon, in the Apocalypse, who said: I sit a queen, and I shall not see grief. -----Apoc. 18:7. She persevered in her impurity in the hope of not being punished, but the chastisement at length came as had been predicted! Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning, and famine, and she shall be burnt with fire.

Brother, who knows whether this is not the last call which God may give you? Our Lord says that a certain owner of a vineyard, finding a fig-tree for the third year without fruit, said: Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and I find none; cut it down therefore, why cumbereth it the ground? -----Luke 13:7. Then the dresser of the vine replied: Lord, let it alone this year also . . . and if happily it bear fruit-----but if not, then, after that, thou shalt cut it down. Let us enter into ourselves, my brethren; for years has God been visiting our souls, and has found no other fruit therein than thorns and thistles, that is to say, sins. Hear how the Divine justice exclaims, Cut it down therefore, why cumbereth it the earth? But mercy pleads, Let it alone this year also. Have courage, let us give it one trial more; let us see whether it will not be converted at this other ,call. But tremble lest the same mercy may not have granted to justice that if you do not now amend, your life shall be cut off, and your soul condemned to Hell. Tremble, brother, and take measures that the mouth of the pit do not close over you. Such was the prayer of David: Let not the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. -----Ps. 68:16. It is that which sin effects, causing the mouth of the pit, that is, the state of damnation into which the sinner has fallen, to close over him by degrees. As long as that pit is not entirely closed, there is some hope of escape; but if it once shut, what further hope remains for you? By closing of the pit, I mean the sinner's being shut out from every glimmer of grace, and stopping at nothing; that being the accomplishment of what the wise man has said: The wicked man, when he is come into the depth of sins, contemneth. -----Prov. 18:3. He despises the laws of God, admonitions, sermons, excommunications, threats-----he despises Hell itself; so that persons have been known to say, numbers go to Hell, and I amongst the rest. Can the man who speaks so be saved? He can be saved, but it is morally impossible he should. Brother, what do you say? Perhaps you have yourself come to the contempt of the chastisements of God. What do you say? Well, and if you had, what should you do? Should you despair? No; you know what you have to do. Have recourse to the Mother of God.

Although you should be in despair, and abandoned by God, Blosius says, that Mary is the hope of the despairing, and the aid of the abandoned. St. Bernard says the same thing when he exclaims, The despairing man who hopes in thee ceases to be desperate. But if God wishes that I should be lost, what hope can there be for me? But, says God, no, my son, I do not wish to see you lost: I desire not the death of the wicked. -----Ezech. 33:11. But what then do you desire, O Lord? I wish him to be converted, and recover the life of My grace: But that the wicked turn from his way and live. Haste then, brother, fling yourself at the feet of Jesus Christ; behold Him! see how He stands with His arms open to embrace you, etc. (Here an act of contrition is made.)

 

CATASTROFUK! Gravity Field And Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) Will Plummet To Earth As Will All Man Made Spacecraft & Satellites One Day - Guaranteed! So Says St. Thomas Aquinas And The Doctrine Of The Fire Of The Final Conflagration

Gravity Field And Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer, or GOCE
 

A massive European satellite is expected to plummet down to earth Monday - and no can predict with accuracy where exactly its debris is going to land.

Europe's Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer, or GOCE, was just 99 miles above Earth and dropping at a rate of 8 miles per day, operations manager Christoph Steiger wrote in a status report posted on the European Space Agency's website.

‘Re-entry into the atmosphere (is) probably less than two days away,’ Steiger said. Daily Mail Read More>>>>>>

One day, in the not too distance future, man will curse NASA and the rest of the space industry for causing world -wide catastrophic disasters and creating universal terror and panic of what will fall upon us all - and that is plummeting man-made satellites and plummeting man-made spacecrafts and plummeting man-made space debris no matter how large or small.

Why? And how do I know this will happen? Simple, all the works of men, holy and profane have to burn up in the fire of the final conflagration at the end of days. Because all the works of men whether it be holy or profane is tainted with original sin. All works of men are wounded with original sin. No exceptions. This includes profane man-made space works. The space industry did not get a special dispensation from the Pope when creating man-made space works. These profane space works are tainted with original sin just as any Altar dedicated to God for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

So what if all the works of men both holy and profane are tainted with original sin? So what!

Well, there is a doctrine called the fire of the final conflagration that says that all the works of men both holy and profane must be burnt up in the fire of the final conflagration at the end of days - all of it - no exceptions.

Now, granted this 2000 year old doctrine was written down by men who knew nothing of profane man-made space works. O.K. of that's your argument against modern day space works burning up in the fire of the final conflagration so be it. Ignorance of space travel on the part of St Thomas Aquinas and others still does not change the doctrine.

The doctrine still stands regardless of the ignorance of men back in the day.

What does this doctrine say?

That at the end of days the element of fire will cleanse the earth and all the works of men.

This fire of the final conflagration will rise up from the bowels of the earth to a height of no greater than 15 cubits above the mountain tops or about 29,050 feet.

Why? Because this is the same level that the waters of the deluged reached in the days of Noah in order to cleanse the world of the sinful works of men. At the end of days fire will be the main instrument to cleanse the world of man-made works.

But do you see a problem with this doctrine?

If the fire of the final conflagration reaches a height of no greater than 15 cubit above the mountain tops in order to cleanse the world of the sinful works of men - then what about all the modern day space works that have exceeded this 29.050 foot level? How is the fire of the final conflagration that is in the bowels of the earth gonna burn up all the profane space works of men?

There is only one way - and that is to have all the profane space works return to place of origin or to a level at or below the 29,050 foot level.

Again, the element of fire like the element of water is bound by this 29,050 level. This level is the same level that the smoke from pagan sacrifices reached and no further. This is the level that the tower of Babel reached before it was tipped over by the finger of God. This level of 15 cubits is boundary set by the Blessed Trinity and it is a boundary that men are not allowed to pass over.

But modern man has passed over this boundary and then some.

You and the rest of men do not pay attention to this set boundary and because you don't care or don't give a damn - you'll all be sorry for it some day.

Maybe starting tomorrow when one of man-made profane space works comes plummeting down upon your head.

Here begins the doctrine of the fire of the final conflagration from the pen of St Thomas Aquinas:

According to St. Thomas Aquinas, the fire of the final conflagration will destroy all the works of men. Every single work by the hand of man will be cleansed by the fire of the final conflagration - St. Thomas Aquinas tells us: "that since the world was, in a way, made for man's sake, it follows that, when man shall be glorified in the body, the other bodies of the world shall also be changed to a better state, so that it is rendered a more fitting place for him and more pleasant to look upon. Now in order that man obtain the glory of the body, it behooves first of all those things to be removed which are opposed to glory. There are two, namely the corruption and stain of sin---because according to 1 Cor. 15:50, "neither shall corruption possess incorruption," and all the unclean shall be without the city of glory (Apoc. 22:15)---and again, the elements require to be cleansed from the contrary dispositions, ere they be brought to the newness of glory, proportionately to what we have said with regard to man. Now although, properly speaking, a corporeal thing cannot be the subject of the stain of sin, nevertheless, on account of sin corporeal things contract a certain unfittingness for being appointed to spiritual purposes; and for this reason we find that places where crimes have been committed are reckoned unfit for the performance of sacred actions therein, unless they be cleansed beforehand. Accordingly that part of the world which is given to our use contracts from men's sins a certain unfitness for being glorified, wherefore in this respect it needs to be cleansed. In like manner with regard to the intervening space, on account of the contact of the elements, there are many corruptions, generations and alterations of the elements, which diminish their purity: wherefore the elements need to be cleansed from these also, so that they be fit to receive the newness of glory."

St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that fire will be the cleansing instrument: "As stated above (A[1]) this cleansing of the world will remove from it the stain contracted from sin, and the impurity resulting from mixture, and will be a disposition to the perfection of glory; and consequently in this threefold respect it will be most fitting for it to be effected by fire. First, because since fire is the most noble of the elements, its natural properties are more like the properties of glory, and this is especially clear in regard to light. Secondly, because fire, on account of the efficacy of its active virtue, is not as susceptible as the other elements to the admixture of a foreign matter. Thirdly, because the sphere of fire is far removed from our abode; nor are we so familiar with the use of fire as with that of earth, water, and air, so that it is not so liable to depreciation. Moreover, it is most efficacious in cleansing and in separating by a process of rarefaction."

St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that this fire will not exceed the bounds which were cleansed by waters of the deluge: "I answer that, Some [*St. Bonaventure, Sentent. iv, D, 47, A[2], Q[3]] say that the fire in question will rise to the summit of the space containing the four elements: so that the elements would be entirely cleansed both from the stain of sin by which also the higher parts of the elements were infected (as instanced by the smoke of idolatry which stained the higher regions), and again from corruption, since the elements are corruptible in all their parts. But this opinion is opposed to the authority of Scripture, because it is written (2 Pet. 3:7) that those heavens are "kept in store unto fire," which were cleansed by water; and Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xx, 18) that "the same world which perished in the deluge is reserved unto fire." Now it is clear that the waters of the deluge did not rise to the summit of the space occupied by the elements, but only 15 cubits above the mountain tops; and moreover it is known that vapors or any smoke whatever rising from the earth cannot pierce the entire sphere of fire so as to reach its summit; and so the stain of sin did not reach the aforesaid space. Nor can the elements be cleansed from corruptibility by the removal of something that might be consumed by fire: whereas it will be possible for the impurities of the elements arising from their mingling together to be consumed by fire. And these impurities are chiefly round about the earth as far as the middle of the air: wherefore the fire of the final conflagration will cleanse up to that point, since the waters of the deluge rose to a height which can be approximately calculated from the height of the mountains which they surpassed in a fixed measure."

Now it stands to reason that if what St. Thomas Aquinas states is true:

1. that fire of the final conflagration will not exceed the bounds which were cleansed by waters of the deluge (only 15 cubits above the mountain tops)

2. and all of the sinful works of men are to be destroyed in this final conflagration.

Then all of the works of men will one day occupy or reach a height no greater than the 15 cubits above the mountain tops, which was boundary of the waters of the deluge. What follows then is that all modern man-made works that had left the orbit of the earth such as NASA's Twin Voyagers, Nasa's Curiosity rover and all other spacecrafts will return to the place in which they were created, which will be below the boundary set by the waters of the deluge and that is 15 cubits above the mountain tops.

Again, NASA's Twin Voyagers, Nasa's Curiosity rover along with all man-made space objects will one day return to the earth.

Anything that Man shoots into space is coming back.

It's catastrofuk!
 

Stars Will Lose Their Regular Motion: Asteroid P/2013 P5 "Weird And Freakish Object"

P/2013 P5

“The seasons will be altered, the earth will produce nothing but bad fruit, the stars will lose their regular motion, and the moon will only reflect a faint reddish glow. Water and fire will give the earth's globe convulsions and terrible earthquakes which will swallow up mountains, cities, etc...Our Lady of La Salette 19 Sept. 1846 (Published by Mélanie 1879)

'Freakish' asteroid discovered, resembles rotating lawn sprinkler
By Ray Villard and UCLA Newsroom

Astronomers have discovered a "weird and freakish object" resembling a rotating lawn sprinkler in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The find, reported online in the Nov. 7 issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters, has left them scratching their heads and searching for an explanation for the strange asteroid's out-of-this-world appearance. 

 

Normal asteroids appear simply as tiny points of light. This bizarre asteroid has six comet-like tails of dust radiating from it like spokes on a wheel.

 

"It's hard to believe we're looking at an asteroid," said lead investigator David Jewitt, a professor in the UCLA Department of Earth and Space Sciences and the UCLA Department of Physics and Astronomy. "We were dumbfounded when we saw it. Amazingly, its tail structures change dramatically in just 13 days as it belches out dust."

 

One interpretation is that the asteroid's rotation rate increased to the point where its surface started flying apart, ejecting dust in episodic eruptions, starting last spring. The team has ruled out a recent asteroid impact scenario because a large quantity of dust would have been blasted into space all at once. This object, designated P/2013 P5, has ejected dust for at least five months, Jewitt said.

 

The asteroid was first seen as an unusually fuzzy-looking object with the Pan-STARRS survey telescope in Hawaii. Its multiple tails were discovered in images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope on Sept. 10, 2013. When Hubble returned to the asteroid on Sept. 23, its appearance had totally changed; it looked as if the entire structure had swung around.

 

"We were completely knocked out," said Jewitt.

 

The tails could have been formed by a series of "impulsive dust-ejection events," modeling by team member Jessica Agarwal revealed. Agarwal, of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Lindau, Germany, calculated that the first ejection event occurred on April 15 and the last one on Sept. 4. The intervening eruptions occurred on July 18, July 24, Aug. 8 and Aug. 26.

 

Radiation pressure from the sun smears out the dust into streamers. The asteroid could possibly have been spun up if the pressure of sunlight exerted a torque on the body, Jewitt said.

 

If its spin rate became fast enough, he said, the asteroid's weak gravity would no longer be able to hold it together. Dust might avalanche downslope toward the asteroid's equator and eventually drift into space to make a tail. So far, only a small fraction of the asteroid's main mass — perhaps 100 to 1,000 tons of dust — has been lost, Jewitt said. The 700-foot-radius nucleus is thousands of times more massive.

 

Follow-up observations may reveal whether the dust leaves the asteroid in the equatorial plane; if so, that would indicate a "rotational breakup," Jewitt said.

 

This must be a common phenomenon in the asteroid belt, Jewitt said, and may even be the main way in which small asteroids die.

 

"In astronomy, where you find one, you eventually find a whole bunch more," he said. "This is an amazing object and almost certainly the first of many more to come."

 

The object may be a piece from an asteroid collision that occurred roughly 200 million years ago, Jewitt noted. The resulting collision fragments, known as the Flora asteroid family, are still following similar orbits. Meteorites from these bodies show evidence of having been heated to as much as 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

Jewitt, who is a faculty member in the UCLA College of Letters and Science is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He played an instrumental role in the 1993 discovery of the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune. The discovery of the Kuiper Belt, which contains more than a billion objects and was once believed to be empty space, has fundamentally changed the modern perception of the solar system.

 

Co-authors of the current research are Jessica Agarwal (Max Planck Institute), Harold Weaver (Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory), Max Mutchler (Space Telescope Science Institute) and Stephen Larson (University of Arizona).  UCLA Newsroom

MARIA OF THE CROSS,

Victim of Jesus nee MELANIE CALVAT,

Shepherdess of La Salette

"I protest highly against a different text, which people may dare publish after my death. I protest once more against the very false statements of all those who dare say and write First that I embroidered the Secret; second, against those who state that the Queen Mother did not say to transmit the Secret to all her people." Melanie