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Name: (101429) 1998 VF31 (AKA: the sister of the moon).
Years: 4.5 billion years, more or less.
Appearance: Lunar.
Twinned with: Moon.
I didn’t realize that the moon had siblings. Nobody did. This, an asteroid about 1 km in diameter, has been hiding behind Mars the entire time.
And how is it related to the moon? They appear to be made of the same material.
Like someone know what? Spectroscopic observation.
What does that mean? It means that they looked at it with a very large telescope, known as the Very Large Telescope, located in the Atacama Desert in Chile.
And what did they discover? “Simply put, it is the same color as the moon,” said astronomer Dr. Apostolos Christou, lead author of a new study by the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium (AOP).
The same color? Can’t you think of a more scientific explanation? Detailed spectral analysis suggests that the asteroid is rich in pyroxene and iron, “almost a warning for parts of the moon where there is an exposed bedrock,” according to Galin Borisov, an astrochemist at the AOP.
Thank you. How could we have missed this? What else is lurking? on the back of Mars? Actually, it was discovered in 1998. It is one of the Trojans that orbit Mars.
Trojans? Celestial objects grouped around “Lagrange points”, that is, they are suspended in equilibrium between the gravitational fields of Mars and the sun.
And are there more of these Trojans? Yes, but the others seem to be related to each other. This is different.
It’s our loss second moon! More accurately, it is possibly a small part of our moon that broke off and got trapped in Martian orbit.
Who cares? We want it back! Where are you going to put it?
We will stick it on the moon! That can be difficult.
And we want a better name for it than (101429) 1998 VF31. What do you suggest?
Moon 2. That’s not very good.
Chip Off the Old Moon. It is not that either.
Okay, we can fix the name later, once we’ve towed it here. In fact, it is possible, and perhaps even more likely, that this particular Trojan is a fragment of Mars itself.
Now you tell me. I’m sorry.
Say: “It’s a lifeless piece of toxic red earth in the middle of nowhere. Let’s give him six votes from the electoral college. “
Do not tell: “And the winner is: Moony McMoonface.”
