Astronomers say the spectrum data fits the bill.
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00:00 Right now there's an asteroid following Mars. It's named 101429 1998 VF31 and
00:09 it's called a Trojan asteroid because of the way it follows Mars, caught in a
00:12 gravitational equilibrium 60 degrees with Mars and the Sun. But while most
00:16 trailing asteroids tend to be made from whatever planet they're tagging along
00:20 behind, scientists now believe this one could have once been the moon's twin.
00:23 Astronomers from the Armaa Observatory and Planetarium in Northern Ireland
00:27 found that 101429 isn't like the other asteroids in its cluster. Using a device
00:32 that provides high-resolution spectrum data and the Very Large Telescope in
00:36 Chile, they discovered 101429 had a completely different readout than the
00:40 others, but one not entirely foreign. Galen Borisov, Armaa Observatory and
00:44 Planetarium astrochemist said about the findings, "The spectrum of this
00:47 particular asteroid seems to be almost a dead ringer for parts of the moon where
00:51 there is exposed bedrock such as crater interiors and mountains." But the
00:55 astronomers say there could be other explanations. For instance, solar
00:58 radiation could have changed the fragment through cosmic weathering, which
01:01 is why the astronomers are now looking to get even better spectra data from
01:04 both Mars and the moon for comparison.
01:08 (upbeat music)