Scientists Confirm a Second Trojan Asteroid That Is Following Earth

A team of astronomers around the globe has confirmed the second Earth Trojan asteroid called 2020 XL5.

The scientists led by researcher Toni Santana-Ros of the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona conducted a search lasting a decade, of which its results were published in Nature Communications.

What to know about 2020 XL5, one of Earth Trojan asteroids

According to the study, the asteroid in question is the second Earth Trojan asteroid ever confirmed, and it will be following Earth for four thousand years. The previously discovered Earth Trojan asteroid was 2010 TK7, which was proven in 2011. It is estimated that the size of 2020 XL5 is roughly 1.2 kilometers in diameter. That is about 0.30 kilometers in diameter as for 2010 TK7.

“There have been many previous attempts to find Earth Trojans,” Toni Santana-Ros said. “All the dedicated efforts had so far failed to discover any new member of this population,” he added. Planets such as Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune are known to have the existence of such Trojan asteroids.

“These objects are usually observable close to the sun. The observation time window between the asteroid rising above the horizon and sunrise is, therefore, very small,” reads the press release. “Therefore, astronomers point their telescopes very low on the sky where the visibility conditions are at their worst and with the handicap of the imminent sunlight saturating the background light of the images just a few minutes in the observation.”

Tackling this problem, the international team of astronomers used the Lowel Discovery Telescope in Arizona and SOAR Telescope in Chile.

The discovery of these asteroids is of utmost importance to astronomers, so much so that they might provide crucial clues regarding the formation of the Solar System.

“The primitive trojans might have been co-orbiting the planets during their formation, and they add restrictions to the dynamic evolution of the Solar System,” the press release pointed out. “In addition, Earth Trojans are the ideal candidates for potential space missions in the future.”

To add more, astronomers have discovered a rugby ball-shaped exoplanet. Some even liken it to a potato.