In December 2020 , astronomers stumbled upon an object that seemed to be traveling a moment in advance of us in our orbit around the Sun , but they were n’t entirely sure . Modern observations now corroborate this suspicion , let out the asteroid to be just the second known Earth Trojan .
In addition to confirming asteroid 2020 XL5 as being a transient Earth Trojan , the new Nature Communicationsstudyprovides update estimates of the object ’s ambit , size of it , and physical characteristic . The asteroid is three times orotund than 2010 TK7 , the only other roll in the hay Earth Trojan , and it will remain a Trojan for the next 4,000 years . The new theme , co - author by uranologist Toni Santana - Ros from the University of Barcelona in Spain , also express that our biggest ground - based telescope can be aimed low on the horizon to spot thing that have antecedently gone unseen .
Trojans are small celestial bodies that share a planet ’s orbit around the Sun , and they do so by parking in gravitationally unchanging spots live as Lagrange point ( or , more accurately , they execute small-scale orbits around Lagrange point ) . In this grammatical case , 2020 XL5 has settled into the 4th Lagrange point , where it sit around 60 stage ahead of Earth . Trojan asteroids are vulgar in the solar system , include a Brobdingnagian bit locked in Jupiter ’s orbit .
Artist’s conception of the Earth Trojan asteroid 2020 XL5.Illustration: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva/Spaceengine
2020 XL5 was discovered on December 12 , 2020 , by the Pan - STARRS1 survey scope in Hawai‘i . Preliminary observations suggest its Trojan nature , but insufficient experimental grounds and uncertainties about the object ’s electron orbit made confirmation difficult .
“ to improve the noesis of its electron orbit , we execute follow - up observation in February and March 2021 , which allowed us to work out with great accuracy the compass of the object , ” Santana - Ros explain to me in an electronic mail . “ In turn , this allowed us to find adjuvant data of the physical object in the datum archive . ”
Those follow - up observations were performed by three ground observation tower : the 13.5 - foot ( 4.1 - m ) Southern Astrophysical Research ( SOAR ) Telescope on Cerro Pachón in Chile , the 14.1 - foot ( 4.3 - meter ) Lowell Discovery Telescope in Arizona , and the European Space Agency ’s 3.2 - foot ( 1 - meter ) Optical Ground Station in the Canary Islands . This was combined with archival information gathered between 2012 and 2019 as part of the Dark Energy Survey .
Graphic showing the four Lagrange points along Earth’s orbit. The newly confirmed Trojan is orbiting around L4. As a fun fact, the recently launched Webb space telescope is in L2.Image: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva
“ These were very intriguing observations , require the [ SOAR ] telescope to track correctly at its crushed lift limit , as the objective was very low on the western apparent horizon at dawn , ” Cesar Briceño , a co - author of the study and a researcher at NOIRLab , said in apress release .
A photometric analysis of 2020 XL5 revealed it to be a C - complex eccentric asteroid — dark and carbon - rich objects that symbolize the most mutual case of asteroid in the solar system . The object measures 0.73 air mile ( 1.18 km ) astray , making it larger than the first know Earth Trojan , 2010 TK7 . 2020 XL5 will flow out as an Earth Trojan for another 4,000 years , after which meter it will come free and pretend through place on a Modern flight .
2020 XL5 is not a aboriginal Trojan , meaning it has n’t been parked in the L4 point since the time of our planet ’s nascence . That ’s inauspicious because primaeval Trojans “ can supply us with information about the formation of its host planet ” and , in turn , keys to a better reason of solar system evolution , Santana - Ros said . Interestingly , 2020 XL5 only became a Trojan around 600 years ago .
The discovery of this Earth Trojan “ confirms that 2010 TK7 is not a rare exclusion and that there are credibly more dead body populate L4 and probably L5 of the Earth - Sun system , ” explained Santana - Ros , adding that this will “ encourage us to keep enhancing our study strategy to find , if it live , the first primaeval Earth Trojan . ”
The new objective is also interesting in that it could be the fair game of a future fly - by mission , or even a coolheaded property to lay up a space station or mine for resources . In the lag , there ’s theLucy missionto depend fore to . Launched late last yr , the NASA investigation is currentlyen routeto Jupiter , where it will explore the Jovian Trojans for a 12 - year stop .
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