The asteroid named Kamoʻoalewa orbits the Sun in an orbit similar to that of the Earth, and can actually be considered an extra moon. Scientists have now also found out where the mysterious celestial body comes from.
In 2016, a Hawaiian observatory discovered a tiny asteroid – between 40 and 100 meters in diameter – orbiting the Sun in a very similar orbit to that of Earth. Scientists refer to the celestial body as a kind of quasi-moon, which has been named 469219 Kamoʻoalewa. According to estimates, the asteroid has been accompanying our planet for about 2,100 years.
According to the authors, the celestial body could have detached from the Moon when it was hit by an approx. 1.6 km diameter object – the impact also caused the famous Giordano Bruno crater.
The researchers had previously established that Kamoʻoalewa’s age, light reflectivity and size all indicate that it is a detached piece of the Moon.
Photo: Unsplash
It could be a piece of the Moon
One of the authors of the study, a planetary scientist at Tsinghua University in Beijing, Bin Cheng said: he and his colleagues first tried to find out how large an impact of an object could have caused the separation of Kamoʻoalewa from the surface of the Moon. According to their estimates, the object in question is approx. It could have left behind a 10-20 kilometer crater – the diameter of Giordano Bruno is 22 kilometers, so it could be considered.
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However, there are thousands of indentations of similar size on the Moon, so the circle had to be further narrowed down. Most craters are very ancient, many millions of years old, so scientists searched for younger options. All factors taken into account, Giordano Bruno Crater was finally identified as the most likely origin of Kamoʻoalewa.
In 2025, a Chinese mission will launch to Kamoʻoalewa to collect samples from the surface of the mysterious asteroid. According to the plans, these will be compared with samples taken from the Giordano Bruno crater area, so within a few years it will be clear whether the scientists who wrote the study are right.
Tags: extra moon orbits Earth scientists discovered origin mysterious asteroid
