一颗伴地两千年的老月亮

A “fake moon” has been tailing the Earth around the sun since 100 BC, and astronomers have only just noticed it. The space rock dubbed 2023 FW13 was first discovered in March using the renowned Pan-STARRS observatory in Hawaii, according to scientists. At first glance, scientists originally believed the asteroid was circling the Earth, which would mean it would actually be a second moon. But upon further inspection, it was found that it's actually orbiting the sun which makes this asteroid a “quasi-moon” or “fake moon”. As reported by Sky & Telescope, the large rock coincidentally travels roughly the same path and pace as our planet around the sun. It turns out that this cheeky chappy might have been following our planet around the sun for approximately 2,121 years, completely undetected until now. According to Space.com, the asteroid is around 20 meters long and keeps its distance from our planet nine million miles at the closest point of its path, to be exact.

自公元前100年以来，一颗“假月亮”一直在跟随地球绕太阳运动，而天文学家直到最近才发现它。这颗被科学家称为2023 FW13的太空岩石是于三月份通过夏威夷著名的Pan-STARRS天文台首次发现的。科学家最初认为这颗小行星是在围绕地球运动，这意味着它实际上是第二个月亮。但经进一步检查，发现它实际上正在围绕太阳运动，这使这颗小行星成为“伪月亮”或“假月亮”。据《天空与望远镜》报道，这块巨石碰巧以同地球大约相同的速度和轨道绕着太阳旅行。原来这个调皮的小家伙可能已经跟随我们的星球大约2121年了，却直到现在才被发现。据Space.com报道，这颗小行星长约20米，离我们的星球有一定的距离——在其路径的最近点处为900万英里。