Trojan Vanguard: The asteroid orbits in front of the Earth in its orbit

An asteroid becomes the Earth’s Trojan – it goes into orbit in front of the Earth. There are new opportunities for research.

Alicante – When an astronomer hears the word Trojan, he does not think of computer viruses or ancient Greek history – but thinks of something completely different: asteroids. More specifically, Trojans are asteroids that advance or chase a planet in its orbit. Although nearly 10,000 Trojans are known to Jupiter – some of which will be visited by NASA space exploration “Lucy” in the coming years – only one Trojan asteroid is known to Earth: the celestial body named 2010 TK7.

This first Earth Trojan was discovered in 2010, about 12 years later and now owns the company: researchers around Tony Santana-Rose at the University of Alicante In the journal Nature Communications Announced the discovery of the second Earth Trojan (2020 XL5). These celestial bodies are difficult to detect because they move only in observable areas under difficult conditions: they are called lagrange points 4 and 5. These are theoretical points in the Earth-Sun system in which a lighter celestial body can almost stop. Powerless. NASA and ESA’s James Web Space Telescope recently arrived at Lockrange Point 2, where it will use this effect to establish an orbit around Lockrange point 2.

Asteroid rushes in front of Earth in orbit: Earth’s Trojans detected

Light bodies can last a long time at points 4 and 5 – this can be seen from numerous Jupiter Trojans. And according to the calculations of Santana-Rose and his team, the newly discovered Earth Trojan 2020 XL5 will be there for several thousand years and will go into its orbit before Earth.

Asteroid 2020 XL5 is only the second Trojan on Earth due to the difficult observation conditions associated with the LoCrange points: from Earth’s point of view the objects located there are close to the Sun. Even though the asteroid is above the horizon, the observation window is small as the sun has not yet risen. In addition, astronomers have to adjust their telescopes to a minimum on the horizon – where observation conditions are poor and the approaching sunrise brightens the images. This explains why Earth Trojans have not yet been discovered.

Asteroid 2020 XL5 is an Earth Trojan located at a lowrange point

But back to the current invention of the Earth Trojan: 2020 XL5 was first discovered in December 2020 by the Pan-STARRS1 telescope in Hawaii. Researchers working with Santana-Ros made further observations using the Lowel Discover Telescope (USA) and SOAR. Telescope operated by NOIRLab of the American National Science Foundation in Chile. Both telescopes helped observe difficult conditions and allowed researchers to determine the approximate size of the asteroid: it is approximately 1.2 kilometers across, making it the largest Earth Trojan known to date, with the 2010 TK7 only estimated at 400 meters.

Using the SOAR telescope, the researchers discovered more about the asteroid: “Data from SOAR allowed us to make the first optical analysis of the object, which shows that 2020 XL5 is a type C asteroid larger than one kilometer,” explains study author Santana-Rose. Type C asteroid is high carbon and dark – it is the most common type of asteroid in our solar system. Observations indicate that the 2020 XL5 will not be an Earth Trojan forever. It will be in orbit at Lockrange point 4 for at least 4000 years, but eventually it will begin to orbit in space.

Earth Trojans may even be a source of resources in the future

Searching for the Earth’s Trojan is not easy, “said Caesar Priceno, co – author of the study. But the discovery of Earth’s Trojans is crucial to space exploration: asteroids contain objects that predate the formation of our solar system – which could provide researchers with a timeline up to the formation of the Sun. System.

“If we could detect more Earth Trojans, and some of them had orbits with lower inclinations, they would be cheaper than the Moon,” Briseno points out. “They may be an excellent site for advanced study of the solar system, or a source of resources.” But first you need to find Earth Trojans – they do not make research easy. (Tab)