REAL LIFE NEWS: AN ALIEN ASTEROID THAT ORBITS THE WRONG WAY
by Hazed
One of the asteroids goes in reverse. Asteroid 2015 BZ509 orbits around the sun in the opposite direction from the other rocks in its vicinity near Jupiter. Now scientists have announced that it might be because it’s not from our Solar System.
Yes, this asteroid could be an alien – a stray from interstellar space that was captured by the gravity of the Sun.
In a recent paper, astronomers Fathi Namouni and Helen Morais explain that if this theory about the reason for the asteroid’s contra-rotation turns out to be true, then it could be an important key to understanding how our system evolved. They say, “The presence of extrasolar asteroids bound to the Solar System early in its history implies the need for a revision of planet formation theory.”
The two astronomers built a simulation of a million asteroids just like BZ509, based on observations of the rock and on our understanding of the rest of the Solar System. They ran the simulation backwards to the beginning of planetary formation. The result that seems most likely is that the asteroid was captured from interstellar space by the Sun’s gravity over 4.5 billion years ago.
This is an interesting theory, but because it’s based on a computer model, it may not be a true record of what happened. Other experts suggest an inactive comet could have come from the furthest reaches of the system and got captured into orbit around Jupiter.
The only way to find out for sure if the asteroid did come from outer space is to send a mission there to capture a sample of the rock. Meanwhile, all we can do is run computer simulations.
Source: https://gizmodo.com/why-is-this-asteroid-orbiting-the-wrong-way-around-the-1826197460
