The distant asteroid behind gravity has been observed in more detail than before, and the near one shows a striking resemblance – which raises some interesting questions about the ancient origin of the object.
(101429) 1998 The questionable asteroid known as VF31 is part of a group of Trojan asteroids divided into Mars orbits.
Trojans are celestial bodies that come into space in a gravitationally balanced space close to other planets located 60 degrees in front and behind the Earth.
Most of the Trojan asteroids we know about Jupiter’s orbit, but there are other planets in it, including Mars and Earth.
(101429) 1998 VF31 (hereinafter ‘101429’) What makes it interesting is that among the Trojans behind the red planet (orbiting Mars while orbiting the Sun), 101429 seems unique.
Depiction of Mars and Trojans; 101429 is the blue point circling L5. (AOP)
The rest of the group, called the L5 Martian Trojan, are all known as the Eureka family, including 5261 Eureka – discovered by the first Trojan of Mars – and a group of smaller fragments believed to be loose from the rock of their parent space.
101429 is different, however, and why researchers wanted to test it in a new study led by astronomers at the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium (AOP) in Northern Ireland.
Using an X-shooter spectrograph on an 8-meter very large telescope (VLT) from the European Southern Observatory in Chile, the team investigated how sunlight in the Eureka family reflects 101429 and its L5 relatives. Simply, it looks like 101429 and the Eureka clan has no kinship at all, the analysis shows a spectral match for a satellite near the 101429 home.
“The spectrum of this particular asteroid seems almost a dead ringer for parts of the moon where there are crater interiors and open bedrocks like mountains.”
While we are not yet sure about this, the researchers say it is plausible that the origin of this Mertian Trojan was nowhere far from the Red Planet, in which 101429 represents “the remnants of the Moon’s original solid crust.”
If that’s true, how could the moon’s long-lost twins, like the Trojans attached to Mars, end?
101429 and spectral comparison of the lunar surface. (AOP)
A.O.P. Astronomer Apostolos Christo, the lead author of the study, explains, “The early solar system was very different from where we see it today.”
“The space between the newly formed planets was full of debris and collisions were common. Large asteroids [planetesimals] Were constantly surviving the moon and other planets. While the planet was still under construction and its Trojan was trapped in the clouds, Mars was able to reach the orbit of such a collision. “
It’s a beautiful idea, but researchers say it’s not just an explanation of 101429’s past. It is also possible, and most likely, that the Trojan instead represents a fragment of Mars by a similar phenomenon affecting the red planet; Or it could just be a normal planet, which ends up looking like the moon, through the weather processes of solar radiation.
Further observations with more powerful spectrographs may be able to shed more light on this question of space parents, such as future spacecraft visits, the team says, “which could get spectra on Mars or the moon, to go to the Trojans.” Direct comparison with asteroid data “.
These findings are reported Icarus.
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