REAL LIFE NEWS: A ROCK ESCAPED FROM THE ASTEROID BELT AND MADE ITS WAY TO NEPTUNE
by Hazed
Scientists have discovered a rock orbiting Neptune that seems to have travelled from the asteroid belt.
The rock, called “2004 EW95” was examined by the Very Large Telescope in Chile. The observers knew something was odd about it because it reflected less ultraviolet light than expected. They were able to examine it and determine it is made of iron, silicon and carbon – materials much more likely to be found in asteroids closer to the sun. Planets and asteroids are usually made from whatever material was available in the region at the time they were formed.
“It’s very carbon-rich,” Thomas Puzia, astronomy and astrophysics professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and one of the study’s authors, told Gizmodo. “It’s an asteroid that has been very likely flung out from the inner solar system, and displaced to the outskirts by interactions with the migrating planets.”
The results were based on observations of the wavelengths of light reflected by the rock, which wasn’t easy. “These things are really faint,” said Puzia. “You’re really pushing the limits of the largest telescopes.”
Which leads to the question: how did it end up all the way out in Neptune’s orbit? One theory suggests that Jupiter and Saturn moved closer to the sun then further away at some point in their history – and their gravity could have send a few asteroids sailing out to the further reaches of the system.
Source: https://gizmodo.com/how-the-hell-did-this-asteroid-get-all-the-way-out-past-1825893970
