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Scientists from the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium in Northern Ireland have found that the asteroid has a very similar composition to that of the Moon.
The space debris that follows the planets in their orbits is known as “trojans”. They remain trapped within the gravitational pull of the planets, up to 60 degrees in front of and behind them.
It is much easier to find Trojans from other planets than ours because all Trojans that follow Earth’s orbits are so close to the Sun, which makes them more difficult to spot using telescopes.
The trojan following the Red Planet is the asteroid (101429) 1998 VF31. To detect its composition, scientists use a spectrograph – an instrument that measures wavelengths in light – to see how the asteroid’s surface reflects colors.
The scientists compared the reflections of the light spectrum with those of other bodies in the solar system, and although they found that the spectrum did not match particularly well with other mereorites or asteroids, it did with Earth’s Moon.
Many of the spectra we have for asteroids are not very different from the Moon, but if you look closely there are important differences, such as the shape and depth of large spectral absorptions at wavelengths of 1 and 2 microns, “explains the Dr. Galin Borisov, a Postdoctoral Research Assistant at the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium.
“However, the specter of this particular asteroid appears to be almost a wake-up call for parts of the Moon where there is exposed bedrock such as the interior of craters and mountains.”
It is hypothesized that the asteroid acquired these characteristics through exposure to solar radiation, known as “space meteorism”. However, it is possible that it was moved by the Moon itself.
“The first solar system was very different from the place we see today. The space between the newly formed planets was full of debris and collisions were the order of the day. Large asteroids – we call these planetesimals – were constantly hitting the Moon and other planets. ”Said Dr. Apostolos Christou, an astronomer who published an article on the asteroid.
A fragment of such a collision could have reached the orbit of Mars when the planet was still forming and was trapped in its clouds of Troy. “
While this is a possible scenario, it could be that the asteroid originated from Mars itself. From the shape of the light spectrum, scientists can deduce that the asteroid is rich in pyroxene, which is found in the outer layer of planet-sized bodies.
“Mars, like the Moon and Earth, was hit by impacts early in its history, one of which was responsible for the gigantic Borealis Basin, a crater as wide as the planet itself,” says Dr. Christou, and could be that impact that removed the trojan.
This origin has already been hypothesized in 2017 for another cluster of trojans called the Eureka family; however, in contrast to the pyroxene composition of this asteroid, the Eureka family is composed primarily of olivine found in a planet’s mantle rather than its crust.
Recently, a revolutionary new technique called “atomic probe tomography” was used to find more about the surface of the moon by studying parts of the moon rock atom by atom.
According to a researcher at the University of Chicago, it would allow researchers to find entirely new discoveries in pieces of lunar rock that are nearly 50 years old, and is so niche that many geologists haven’t heard of it.
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