#Asteroid ‘following’ Mars could be long-lost twin of Earth’s Moon

A huge asteroid that’s following Mars’s orbit could be our Moon’s ‘long-lost twin’.

This is according scientists who say the space rock has an identical composition to some parts of the lunar surface.

The researchers think asteroid (101429) 1998 VF31 could have ancient origins closers to home.

They said it could be a “relic fragment of the Moon’s original solid crust”.

Scientists used a tool called a spectrograph on the European Southern Observatory’s 26-foot Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile to observe the asteroid.

It allowed them to see how sunlight reflected from it and then they compared it to the Moon.

Armagh Observatory and Planetarium astrochemist Galin Borisov explained: “The spectrum of this particular asteroid seems to be almost a dead-ringer for parts of the Moon where there is exposed bedrock such as crater interiors and mountains.”

We don’t know for sure why that is but one theory is that the Moon and the asteroid have a similar origin or were once combined and then broke apart.

AOP astronomer Apostolos Christou said: “The early Solar System was very different from the place we see today.

“The space between the newly-formed planets was full of debris and collisions were commonplace.

“Large asteroids [planetesimals] were constantly hitting the Moon and the other planets.

“A shard from such a collision could have reached the orbit of Mars when the planet was still forming and was trapped in its Trojan clouds.”

There are said to be other explanations for the similarities though and the asteroid could even be a fragment of Mars itself.

Much more research is needed before we can be certain either way.

These findings have been reported online in the journal Icarus.