The pair used a computer simulation to create hypothetical orbital paths around the sun that would have intersected with Earth on 15 February. (newscientist.com)
The rock is Earth's first confirmed Trojan, which can orbit the sun in either of two gravitational wells along the same orbital path as our planet. (newscientist.com)
His system specified the basic requirements for a solar eclipse: It must be the time of the new moon — when moon and sun are on the same side of the Earth — and the positions of their orbits must also be crossing the ecliptic, the plane of the sun's apparent orbital path through the sky. (sciencenews.org)