Discovery of parts of the moon in orbit of Mars

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

The study, published in the journal Icarus, indicated that asteroid 101429 (1998 VF31) belongs to a group of Trojan asteroids – small celestial bodies located 60 degrees in front and behind the planets. Astronomers have currently discovered 7681 such asteroids, including 7642 in the orbit of Jupiter and nine in the orbit of Mars, all except the asteroid 101429 belong to the so-called Eureka family. , which includes asteroid 5261 Eureka and the group of rocky bodies that separated from it.

Read more

Astronomers at the Arma Observatory in Northern Ireland decided to find out why asteroid 101429 has a separate location, using the X-SHOOTER spectrometer installed in the VLT telescope at the European Southern Observatory 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 there are exposed basic rocks, such as the internal parts of craters and mountains,” astrochemist Galina Borisova said.

Lead author of the study, Apostolos Christo, adds, “The shape of the solar system 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.

In addition, large asteroids are constantly colliding with the moon and other planets, so it is possible that a piece of the moon separated as a result of these collisions and then reached the orbit of Mars, so that the planet was still in the formation phase, and was captured by a cloud of Trojan asteroids.

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

In order to reach a definitive conclusion in this regard, the scientists decided to continue studying this asteroid using more powerful spectroscopy devices, and additional information could be obtained from missions heading to Mars in the ‘to come up.

Source: Novosti

Follow RT on