Earlier this year, astronomers discovered an oddball asteroid inside the orbit of Venus—the first member of a predicted flock near the Sun, informally called Vatiras. No bigger than a small mountain, the asteroid has now gained another distinction: It appears to be rich in the mineral olivine, which makes up much of Earth9s deep rock. Some astronomers think that is a clue to a larger set of "missing mantle" asteroids, never properly accounted for, that was forged early in the formation of the Solar System. 2020 AV2 suggests that other, even smaller mantle asteroids may be undiscovered in the main asteroid belt.

中文翻译：

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在金星轨道内看到的岩石可以解决难题

今年早些时候，天文学家在金星轨道内发现了一颗奇怪的小行星——这是预测的太阳附近群的第一个成员，非正式地称为瓦提拉斯。这颗小行星不比一座小山大，现在又获得了另一个区别：它似乎富含橄榄石矿物，橄榄石构成了地球深层岩石的大部分。一些天文学家认为，这是在太阳系形成早期形成的、从未正确解释过的、更大的“失踪地幔”小行星的线索。2020 AV2 表明在主小行星带中可能还没有发现其他更小的地幔小行星。