According to lead investigator David Jewitt of the University of California at Los Angeles, "we were literally dumbfounded when we saw it [in the solar system's asteroid belt] We were completely knocked out."
NASA says that "unlike all other known asteroids, which appear simply as tiny points of light, this asteroid, designated P/2013 P5, resembles a rotating lawn sprinkler. Astronomers are puzzled over the asteroid's unusual appearance."
Jewitt and his colleagues have a theory about how this one-of-a-kind object came to be: a space collision.
Jewitt said it appears P/2013 P5 is a fragment of a larger asteroid that broke apart in a collision roughly 200 million years ago. There are many collision fragments in orbits similar to P/2013 P5's. Meteorites from these bodies show evidence of having been heated to as much as 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. This means the asteroid likely is composed of metamorphic rocks and does not hold any ice as a comet does.
However, NASA also says that "they do not believe the tails are the result of an impact with another asteroid because they have not seen a large quantity of dust blasted into space all at once."
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Participants:

StrumpfJesus Diaz
"we were literally dumbfounded when we saw it"
I expect more out of scientists. Unless of course they were actually rendered biologically mute by this discovery, which is a phenomenon worthy of its own article. Yesterday 5:31pm
 
 
Maruato
You need to go look up the definition of dumbfounded. I expect more from random comment posters who try to pick apart other people's grammar.
 
 
abell
They are scientists. Grammar is not their job.
 
 
maloner761
"Literally" literally means figuratively. Check your OED. Not that it matters. Might want to look up "dumbfounded," too. It doesn't mean what you think, either.
 
 
Swarvester
You obviously believe that dumbfounded means something other than its actual meaning then.
 
 
xMeddler
Scientists are just as humans as we are. They get their minds blown sometimes just like everyone else.
 
 
TripGA
he didn't say they were literally struck dumb; he said the were literally dumbfounded. dumbfounded means to make speechless with amazement [not biologically mute], or astonished. however, having said that, it's still weak. no one has ever been figuratively dumbfounded; of course they were literally dumbfounded.
 
 Dvorhagen
They were rendered speechless...That isn't literal enough for you?
 
Maruato
 
dumb·found transitive verb \ˌdəm-ˈfau̇nd, ˈdəm-ˌ\
 
Dvorhagen
But if you're going by that definition (and meh - etymologically, it clearly originally meant "strike dumb with amazement") then they're even more obviously right when they say "literally." They were, I don't doubt, literally astonished. 

Dvorhagen
D'oh — I'm sorry Maruato, I confused you with the OP.

Jason Michaels
Dumbfounded: greatly astonished or amazed. I expect exactly this out of good, inspired scientists.

Eight-Bit Generation
Jeez, it's a good thing "dumbfounded" doesn't mean "rendered biologically mute" then, otherwise that scientist would be quite embarrassed.

captain-jaz
dumbfound
 
deftfork
Well, they're astronomers, not linguists. :)

Randi Poling
I am pretty sure they were mute... I mean... If I were at NASA and seen this.. I woulda been like.. "da fuck..... GUYS! GUYS!!!! DA HELL IS THIS!"
 
Blair
Merriam-Webster defines the word as "affected with sudden and great wonder or surprise" - I don't see why it would be hard to believe that they literally had that reaction.

Holden
Ad hominem/random bs fallacy...

goodmojo
you expect more out of people who constantly discover new information than for them to be dumbfounded by something they could not yet explain? let us run to appeal your expectations

SilentHunter
"Dumbfounded" does not mean "to be rendered biologically mute." According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, it means (1) "affected with sudden and great wonder or surprise" and (2) "filled with amazement or wonder" (http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dumb...).

On that very objective level alone, you are wrong, but I…