{"id":3793,"date":"2022-02-27T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-27T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=3793"},"modified":"2022-02-15T09:50:27","modified_gmt":"2022-02-15T09:50:27","slug":"earth-is-being-led-by-a-second-newly-discovered-trojan-asteroid-but-only-for-4000-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/earth-is-being-led-by-a-second-newly-discovered-trojan-asteroid-but-only-for-4000-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Earth Is Being Led By a Second Newly-Discovered Trojan Asteroid\u2014But Only For 4,000 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>It appears Earth may be whirring around the Solar System like a dignitary, as it is currently being led by two asteroids seemingly lost and apart from their friends over at the asteroid belt\u2014almost akin to bodyguards leading a client through a crowd. These standout rocks, known as <em>Trojan asteroids<\/em>, are found leading or trailing a planet as they travel along their host planets\u2019 orbits around the Sun. <a href=\"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/nasas-lucy-mission-launched-to-study-jupiter-trojan-asteroids\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">We\u2019ve found a whole lot of these asteroids near Jupiter<\/a>; now, it seems, there\u2019s a second one that\u2019s leading Earth at its L<sub>4<\/sub> Lagrange point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The study in question, published in the journal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-022-27988-4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Nature Communications<\/em><\/a>, details this remarkable find by scientists working on the <a href=\"https:\/\/noirlab.edu\/public\/programs\/ctio\/soar-telescope\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) Telescope<\/a> in Chile. The telescope operates within a program under the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">National Science Foundation<\/a>\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/noirlab.edu\/public\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NOIRLab<\/a>. The study in question was led by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ua.es\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">University of Alicante<\/a>\u2019s Toni Santana-Ros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"SOAR Telescope at Cerro Pach\u00f3n in Chile\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ND-M_jXt5E4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption>NOIRLab gave their viewers and readers an aerial view of the Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope. (NOIRLabAstro, 2022)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The asteroid in question was named 2020 XL<sub>5<\/sub>, and much like its previously-discovered companion Trojan asteroid 2010 TK<sub>7<\/sub>, leads Earth as our planet travels around the Sun as both are located mingling around in the L<sub>4<\/sub> Lagrange point created by the Earth-Sun system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Said Santana-Ros: \u201cSOAR\u2019s data allowed us to make a first photometric analysis of the object, revealing that 2020 XL5 is likely a <em>C-type asteroid<\/em>, with a size larger than one kilometer,\u201d with C-type asteroids being the most common type, comprising roughly 75% of all asteroids within the Solar System; these asteroids possess an abundance of carbon (C) within their rocky bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img  decoding=\"async\"  src=\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABAQMAAAAl21bKAAAAA1BMVEUAAP+KeNJXAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAAAlwSFlzAAAOxAAADsQBlSsOGwAAAApJREFUCNdjYAAAAAIAAeIhvDMAAAAASUVORK5CYII=\"  alt=\"\"  class=\" pk-lazyload\"  data-pk-sizes=\"auto\"  data-pk-src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/Pcm1F1QymUXc1YbRPA4gwoBlHepezv8xeItP_9kOjKwSB0VNQGobwP0gRHzyKisLEOH-hI6zZ_xqIb45iCDz6TB_3Dd7PUPEr00PF353uU3zPRHMPd1qxqkHmdnKeRX1LUTPAx05\" ><figcaption>The Southern Astronomical Research Telescope sits atop Cerro Pach\u00f3n at around 2,738 m (8,983 ft) elevation. (International Gemini Observatory\/NOIRLab\/NSF\/AURA\/Paredes)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThese were very challenging observations, requiring the telescope to track correctly at its lowest elevation limit, as the object was very low on the western horizon at dawn,\u201d added NOIRLab researcher and co-author Cesar Brice\u00f1o.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Results from the find revealed that 2020 XL<sub>5<\/sub> is about 1.18 km (0.73 mi) across, and is likely to hang around in Earth\u2019s L<sub>4<\/sub> point for some 4,000 more years before drifting off into space. (For comparison, 2010 TK<sub>7<\/sub> is predicted to stay in L<sub>4<\/sub> for the next 15,000 years.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This particular space find is expected to inform scientists of potentially hundreds more, maybe much smaller, Earth Trojan asteroids just hiding in the dark. Brice\u00f1o noted that these Trojans, should they be large enough, can sometimes be \u201ccheaper to reach than our [own] Moon,\u201d and that these asteroids may be \u201cideal bases for advanced exploration of the Solar System, or [&#8230;] a source of resources.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"references\">References<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><em>Data from NSF\u2019s NOIRLab Show Earth Trojan Asteroid Is the Largest Found<\/em>. (2022, February 1). NOIRLab. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.noirlab.edu\/public\/news\/noirlab2205\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.noirlab.edu\/public\/news\/noirlab2205\/<\/a><\/li><li>Johnston, S. A. (2022, February 1). Astronomers finally find a second asteroid in earth\u2019s trojan belt. <em>Universe Today<\/em>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/154348\/astronomers-finally-find-a-second-asteroid-in-earths-trojan-belt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/154348\/astronomers-finally-find-a-second-asteroid-in-earths-trojan-belt\/<\/a><\/li><li>Santana-Ros, T., Micheli, M., Faggioli, L., Cennamo, R., Devog\u00e8le, M., Alvarez-Candal, A., Oszkiewicz, D., Ram\u00edrez, O., Liu, P.-Y., Benavidez, P. G., Campo Bagatin, A., Christensen, E. J., Wainscoat, R. J., Weryk, R., Fraga, L., Brice\u00f1o, C., &amp; Conversi, L. (2022). Orbital stability analysis and photometric characterization of the second Earth Trojan asteroid 2020 XL5. <em>Nature Communications<\/em>, <em>13<\/em>(1), 447. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41467-022-27988-4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41467-022-27988-4<\/a><\/li><li>Starr, M. (2022, February 1). <em>It\u2019s official! A new trojan asteroid has been discovered sharing earth\u2019s orbit<\/em>. ScienceAlert. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/it-s-official-a-second-trojan-asteroid-has-been-confirmed-sharing-earth-s-orbit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/it-s-official-a-second-trojan-asteroid-has-been-confirmed-sharing-earth-s-orbit<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It appears Earth may be whirring around the Solar System like a dignitary, as it is currently being&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[211],"class_list":{"0":"post-3793","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-asteroid","9":"cs-entry","10":"cs-video-wrap"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3793"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3795,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3793\/revisions\/3795"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}