We have company: Asteroid discovered in Earth’s orbit

[HarbingeR]

The Earth has its own well-behaved celestial Chihuahua on a leash.

Two Canadians astronomers are among a team that has discovered our planet’s first Trojan asteroid, which is rotating the sun in our orbit.

“The interesting thing is that it is synchronized with the Earth,†Professor Paul Wiegert of the University of Western Ontario told the Star on Thursday.

“The asteroid always remains a little ahead, like a dog on a leash.â€

At 300 metres wide, it is a small dog to our nearly 12,800 kilometres.

The discovery, made last year by NASA’s WISE satellite and confirmed in April after months of peering through the Canada France Hawaii Telescope in Hawaii, has immediate implications for our understanding of Earth’s neighbourhood and long-term possibilities for space exploration.

“This asteroid is among the safest,†said Wiegert. “It never gets particularly close to the Earth, but it doesn’t wander too far away. There is a distinct gravitational linkâ€

Read more here

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1031516--we-have-company-asteroid-discovered-in-earth-s-orbit?bn=1

[Andras]

Neat, thanks for posting.