Although the origins of the more than 32,000 asteroids that roam Earth’s vicinity are not completely known, at least one of them may have come from the Moon. It’s called Kamo`oalewa and it will have been ejected from the lunar surface millions of years ago after a large collision.
It was previously believed that most nearby asteroids came from beyond Mars’ orbit, but a new study suggests that it is possible for fragments of the Moon to escape Earth’s gravity if they are ejected at a high enough speed.
Since the Moon has been hit by numerous meteorites over several million years, one of these collisions may have led to the expulsion of a fragment that eventually became the Kamo`oalewa.
The hypothesis that this asteroid is a fragment of the Moon was initially proposed in 2021 by a team from the University of Arizona, but the new study, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, provides more data on what may have made the incident possible, writes to BGRwhich publishes the study.
According to researchers, Kamo`oalewa draws attention due to its unique orbit, acting as a “companion” to Earth much of the timeunlike most nearby asteroids, which have orbits that occasionally place them close to the blue planet.
The formation and constitution of asteroids are enigmas that the scientific community has sought to answer. The most recent attempt is called Psychethe NASA mission that will study the enigmatic metallic asteroid of the same name.
However, it became known that samples from the asteroid Bennunewly arrived on Earth after a seven-year journey, present important components for the formation of life as we know it.
See arrival images
Although more work is needed to understand the nature of the carbon compounds found, initial findings bode well for future analysis of the asteroid sample.
The secrets stored in Bennu’s rocks and dust will be studied for decades to comein laboratories in several countries, in a joint effort to gain insights into how our solar system was formed and how life-precursor materials arrived on Earth.
At the same time, will be equally valuable in understanding how to avoid future collisions of these traveling rocks with the blue planet.
2023-10-27 09:34:00
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