2024-03-24 13:52:00
A Spanish study revealed an asteroid accompanying Mars in its orbit around the sun, about one million years ago.
According to the study, conducted by the Institute of Astrophysics in the Canary Islands and the Complutense University in Madrid, and published in the journal “Astronomy and Astrophysics,” this is the first discovery that this asteroid, named (2023 FW14), has joined the category known as “Trojan asteroids,” despite its arrival. To the path of Troy one million years ago, this was observed using the “Green Canary” telescope, also known as the “Great Canary Telescope”, which is located on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands.
The following are the highlights of the study:
– Trojan asteroids share orbit with the planets, occupying points known as “Lagrange points.”
Lagrange points are known as locations in space where the gravitational forces of two large bodies create a stable equilibrium with the gravitational forces acting on a smaller body. These points were discovered by the Italian-French mathematician Joseph Louis Lagrange in the late eighteenth century.
Mars has the second largest number of known Trojan asteroids after Jupiter, with a total of 17 asteroids.
– It is likely that the majority of Martian Trojan asteroids have accompanied the planet since its formation.
The discovered asteroid (2023 FW14) arrived on the path of Troy about one million years ago, and may leave it after about 10 million years.
The orbit of the asteroid (2023 FW14) is not stable, unlike the previously known Trojan asteroids.
The possible origins of the asteroid (2023 FW14) are that it is part of another Trojan asteroid, 1999 UJ7, or it was captured from a group of near-Earth asteroids that cross the orbit of Mars.
The spectrum obtained using the Green Canarias telescope shows differences in chemical composition compared to other Martian Trojan asteroids.
Both the 2023 FW14 and 1999 UJ7 asteroids belong to a primitive type of asteroid, different from the rocky, silicate-rich Trojan asteroids.
The increasing number of known Martian Trojan asteroids helps understand these objects and validate theoretical models.
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