© Gabriel Pérez Díaz (SMM, IAC)An artist's impression of an asteroid near Mars.
Using observations made with the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) a study led from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
has confirmed that the asteroid 2023 FW14, discovered last year, is accompanying the red planet in its journey round the sun, ahead of Mars and in the same orbit.With this new member, the group of
Trojans that accompany Mars has increased in number to 17. But it shows differences in its orbit and chemical composition which may indicate that it is a captured asteroid, of a primitive type.
The results are published in
Astronomy & Astrophysics.A team from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) has observed and described for the first time the object 2023 FW14, a Trojan asteroid that shares its orbit with Mars. After Jupiter, the red planet has the largest number of known Trojans, totalling 17 with this new identification.
The Trojan asteroids are small bodies in the solar system that share the orbit of a planet, occupying one of the points of stable equilibrium called the Lagrange points, situated 60º in front of (L4) and 60º behind (L5) the planet.
Although the majority of the Martian asteroids seem to have accompanied the planet since the epoch of its formation, 2023 FW14 arrived at its Trojan trajectory around a million years ago, and it may leave it in some 10 million years, according to the numerical results obtained by the study.
Comment: Interestingly, back in 2016, a study revealed that trees were found to 'rest' their branches at nighttime: