(Image source: P. Weigert / BBC News)

BY STEVEN SPARKMAN

You're watching multisource science video news analysis from Newsy. 

In case you thought the Earth was feeling lonely, it turns out it’s got a traveling companion. MSNBC reports.

“Astronomers say they’ve discovered the Earth’s first-known Trojan asteroid -- a nearly 1,000-foot-wide space rock that dances 50 [million] miles in front of our planet along its orbital path around the sun.”

A Trojan asteroid -- sound suspicious? It’s not like a Trojan virus or a Trojan horse. Nature News explains.

“The points 60 degrees ahead of and behind a planet are one type of Lagrange point -- stable gravitational wells where objects can lurk, caught between the Sun’s gravity and the planet’s. Objects residing in these spots are known as Trojans. With the discovery, the Earth joins Mars, Neptune and Jupiter as planets with known Trojans.”

Stuck between the Earth and the Sun, the asteroid -- dubbed 2010TK7 -- dances ahead of us in a spiral orbit.

The researchers compare the asteroid to a dog running around at the end of a leash. And while they say its orbit can vary wildly, it poses no danger to us. Scientists say it’s unlikely this asteroid is Earth’s only Trojan. (Video source: NASA / The Guardian)

So how do we miss an asteroid so nearby for so long? A writer for the Sydney Morning Herald explains.

“The cosmic chum had been elusive because it spends most of its time in the daylight sky, making it difficult to see from Earth. … It was identified using NASA's wide-field infra-red survey explorer, which has detected more than 500 near-Earth objects since its 2009 launch.”

While this particular asteroid would be hard to reach because of its wonky orbit, scientists are hoping to find more Trojans. If any of them hang out closer to Earth’s orbital plane, they could make easy targets for a manned space mission.

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Transcript by Newsy.