First Earth Trojan Asteroid Discovered 173
The Bad Astronomer writes "Astronomers have found the very first Earth Trojan asteroid, a rock that more-or-less shares Earth's orbit around the Sun. Seen in data by NASA's WISE mission, 2010 TK7 is about 300 meters across and leads the Earth by 60 degrees around the Sun. Trojans have been seen for Jupiter, Neptune, and Mars, but this is the first for our planet."
Re:Isn't this a ticking time bomb? (Score:5, Informative)
No, the Lagrange points are stable garbage dumps for planets to put "small" things of 9% of its mass or less, the stuff stays there. It's one of the ways a planet clears its orbit.
Re:Pluto rules (Score:2, Informative)
Nope, putting small objects into a Lagrange point of stability is one way a planet clears its orbit.
Re:L4 (Score:4, Informative)