Earth is being followed by 'Trojan asteroid' we could one day 'settle human bases' on
dailystar.co.ukasteroid' that follows Earth in orbit through space could one day be visited by humans, according to scientists. The space object named 2020 XL5 was spotted two years ago and could be in pursuit for 4,000 years before tailing off.It is thought the hitch-hiking steroid was captured by Earth's gravitational pull and began orbiting along the same path as our home planet at some point in the last millennium.The keen lump of rock potentially began following us as recently as 500 years ago, according to the findings in academic journal Nature Communications.Researchers have been able to get a closer look at A2020 XL5 using telescopes in Chile, Arizona, and the Canary Islands.
They found it is around three-quarters of a mile wide and moves between being approximately 56 million miles and 168 million miles away.Telescope scientist and study co-author Cesar Briceño of the US National Science Foundation's NOIRLab reassured the public that it would not endanger human life, saying: "2020 XL5 poses no threat to Earth.
We expect it will remain in its current stable orbit for at least the next 4,000 years."One researcher even raised the exciting possibility that manned crews could visit the asteroid one day, writing: “These objects may become ideal targets for space missions and, in the more distant future, to settle human bases or install scientific hardware that would benefit from their peculiar location.”A2020 XL5 appears to be a C-type asteroid which is one of the most common types in the solar system, according to planetary scientist Toni Santana-Ros of the University of Alicante and the University of Barcelona's Institute of Cosmos Sciences in Spain.Numerous Trojan asteroids populate our solar system, with the largest planet.
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