The discovery of part of the moon orbiting Mars

Culture and arts – 06/11/2020 13:20

The Clock – Irish astronomers have discovered that an asteroid orbiting Mars, possibly a part that separated from the moon.

Scientists have classified asteroid “101429” as a Trojan asteroid, that is, small celestial bodies trapped in balanced gravitational regions in the near-sun orbits of the planets, the so-called “Lagrange points” (located 60 degrees in front of and behind the planets), according to the Russian “Sputnik” agency.

So far 7,681 asteroids have been identified in the solar system, including 7,642 asteroids in Jupiter’s orbit, at the same time on Mars, as astronomers have said, nine “Trojans.”

So, Irish scientists decided to find out why asteroid 101429 occupied isolated sites, for this purpose, specialists used a special spectrometer installed on an 8-meter-long telescope in Chile.

Scientists compared the reflection spectra of 101,429 and asteroids in the Eureka family and found clear spectral differences, indicating a different composition.

Experts concluded that the spectrum “101429” was similar to the spectrum of the moon, according to “Icarus” magazine.

They suggested that 101429 could represent an old part of the moon’s original hard crust.

It is necessary to continue monitoring, using more powerful spectrometers, to draw a final conclusion on the origin of the asteroid.