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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Earth has a second known 'Trojan asteroid' that shares its orbit [sciencenews.org]

A recently found space rock is schlepping along with Earth around the sun. This "Trojan asteroid" is only the second one discovered that belongs to our planet. And it's probably a visitor.

Trojan asteroids, which are also found accompanying Mars, Jupiter and Neptune, hang out in two locations near a planet [sciencenews.org] where the gravitational pulls of that planet and the sun balance each other (SN: 10/15/21). Because of this balancing act, these locations are stable spots in space. In 2010, astronomers discovered the first known Earth Trojan [sciencenews.org] — called 2010 TK7 — orbiting within one of these two regions, known as L4, tens of millions of kilometers from Earth and leading our planet around the sun (SN: 8/2/11).

Now, researchers have found another one [nature.com]. Dubbed 2020 XL5, this roughly 1-kilometer-wide asteroid is also at L4, astronomer Toni Santana-Ros of the University of Barcelona and colleagues report February 1 in Nature Communications.

2020 XL₅ [wikipedia.org]. 2010 TK₇ [wikipedia.org]. Earth trojan [wikipedia.org].

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