Mysterious red asteroids discovered near Neptune, may reveal secrets about Solar System

Scientists will likely never get over being curious about how the solar system was started. In an effort to learn more about asteroid Bennu, NASA has sent the OSIRIS-REx mission to gather samples, which are expected to arrive on Earth in the second half of this year. 

Now, scientists are looking to Neptune in an effort to solve this great enigma, and they do so out of the same insatiable curiosity. Not quite Neptune, but the region around it full with strange red asteroids. A recent research claims to have found evidence that might explain how the solar system formed.

It was published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and was undertaken by NASA scientist Bryce Bolin. The research underlines the fact that the asteroids' distinctive red hue may be indicative of the presence of substances that are otherwise undetected in asteroids from the inner solar system. Bolin thinks that this may provide light on the solar system's infancy.

Neptunian Trojans are a class of asteroids that orbit the Sun in a plane perpendicular to that of Earth. They inhabit the relatively stable regions of space between Neptune and the Sun between Neptune and Pluto. Since their first discovery in 2001, less than 50 of these space pebbles have been confirmed to be what they seem to be.

Bolin's group used a synthesis of data from four telescopes to follow 18 bright red asteroids. The two-year procedure included an examination of the red hue of the asteroids. The study found that reactive chemicals including ammonia and methanol were responsible for the red hue. Ice forms around these chemical molecules. The scientists think that these chemicals were also present in the asteroids that were physically closer to the Sun, but that they evaporated due to the intense heat of the star, leaving only the stony, grey bodies.

Also, READ: What is 'Pink Moon'? Know interesting facts about Apri

If this hypothesis holds, the red asteroids that orbit Neptune likely originated from farther out, were attracted towards the planet in the early days of the solar system, and were subsequently imprisoned.

If this is the case, then studying these asteroids in more detail may provide light on how asteroids formed and evolved during the solar system's 4.6 billion year history.