Discovery of parts of the moon in the orbit of Mars

Astronomers, after studying the spectral properties of an orbiting asteroid in astronomy, believe it was a piece that separated from the moon earlier.

And the publication studying In Icarus, noted that asteroid 101429 (1998 VF31) belongs to the group of Trojan asteroids – these are small celestial bodies located 60 degrees in front of and behind the planets. Astronomers have currently discovered 7681 asteroids of this type, 7642 of which are in the orbit of Jupiter and nine in the orbit of Mars, all but the asteroid 101429 belong to the so-called Eureka family, which includes the asteroid 5261 Eureka and the group of rocky bodies that separated from it.

Astronomers from the Weapon Observatory in Northern Ireland decided to find out why asteroid 101429 has a separate location, using the X-SHOOTER spectrometer, installed in the European Southern Observatory’s VLT telescope in Chile, and it became clear to researchers that The spectrum of this asteroid differs from other asteroids and its similarity to the spectrum of the moon.

“It turns out that the spectrum of this asteroid is almost identical to those parts of the moon where basic rocks are exposed, such as the insides of craters and mountains,” said astrophysicist Galina Borisova.

Lead Author Adds To The Study “The shape of the solar system at first was very different from what we see today, and the space between the newly formed planets was filled with debris, so collisions were a natural phenomenon.”

The large asteroids constantly collided with the moon and other planets, so it is possible that a piece of the moon separated as a result of these collisions, and thus reached the orbit of Mars, when the planet was still in the process of forming. , and was detected by a cloud of Trojan asteroids.

Some scientists believe that this asteroid 101429 separated from Mars following a severe collision and, with the passage of time and exposure to solar erosion factors, acquired a spectrum similar to that of the moon.

To come to a final conclusion on this matter, the scientists decided to continue studying this asteroid using more powerful spectroscopy devices, and more information could be obtained from missions to Mars in the future.

Source: Novosti