Monday, 5 June 2023 – 16:05 WIB
LIVE Techno – A “false moon” has been found near Earth and has apparently followed Earth around the sun for over 2,000 years. Given the catchy name of 2023 FW13, the rock is basically “fake moon” and is about 14 million kilometers from Earth.
Scientists first discovered the space rock, called 2023 FW13, in March using the Pan-STARRS observatory in Hawaii. At first glance, the asteroid appears to be orbiting planet Earth, which will make it another moon.
But asteroids tailgating it actually orbits the sun, space news site Sky & Telescope report. It happens to be traveling at roughly the same path and speed as our planet. “The Earth is fundamentally out of the way of its motion,” Alan Harris, a scientist specializing in near-Earth objects at the Space Science Institute, told Sky & Telescope. “(It) is completely unrelated to Earth other than by chance.”
That’s what makes FW13 2023 nicknamed “quasi-moon“, or “fake moon”.
Usually quasi-moon followed Earth in only a few decades, but this time was different. From the data scientists gathered about its orbit, astronomers calculated that the asteroid has been in the vicinity of our planet since around 100 BC, the year Julius Caesar was born.
Other telescopes have confirmed the existence of the asteroid, according to Space.com, and Minor Planet Center at the International Astronomical Union officially registered it as a known object in April. It was then that French astronomer and journalist Adrien Coffinet first reported the discovery.
2023-06-05 09:05:00
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