An asteroid that was discovered riding along in Earth's orbit is about three-quarters of a mile (1.2 km) wide and might remain as a hitchhiker with our planet for at least 4,000 more years while posing no danger, scientists said on Tuesday.
Using observations from telescopes in Chile, Arizona and the Canary Islands, researchers provided the most comprehensive description yet of the asteroid, named 2020 XL5 and first detected two years ago. They confirmed it is one of only two of what are called Trojan asteroids traveling as a companion with Earth.
The only other Trojan asteroid seen around Earth, discovered 12 years ago, also at the L4 point, and called 2010 TK7, is smaller, with a diameter of about a quarter mile . It, too, is thought to have been captured by Earth's pull while meandering through the solar system. Numerous Trojan asteroids populate our solar system, with the largest planet Jupiter known to have almost 10,000 of them, Santana-Ros said. NASAcalled Lucy last October to explore them. Trojan asteroids also have been found around Neptune , Mars , Uranus and Venus .
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