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originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: SeaWorthy
Try this for a better idea of what the orbit actually looks like.
ssd.jpl.nasa.gov...
Hit the >> button to animate it.
Use the scroll bars to change the orientation and zoom.
Not sure why that's strange. It's very small and very far away.
Even stranger than an actual noticeable orbit, they only just found it and it was lol there for the last 100 years!
originally posted by: Bspiracy
a reply to: SeaWorthy
You keep saying it orbits the earth.
It isnt affected by our gravity so it is said to circle in a way that LOOKS like an orbit.
Two different words for a reason.
The gravity of the sun is what gives it an orbit.
B
"The asteroid's loops around Earth drift a little ahead or behind from year to year, but when they drift too far forward or backward, Earth's gravity is just strong enough to reverse the drift and hold onto the asteroid so that it never wanders farther away
Chodas says, "The asteroid's loops around Earth drift a little ahead or behind from year to year, but when they drift too far forward or backward, Earth's gravity is just strong enough to reverse the drift and hold onto the asteroid so that it never wanders farther away than about 100 times the distance of the moon. The same effect also prevents the asteroid from approaching much closer than about 38 times the distance of the moon. In effect, this small asteroid is caught in a little dance with Earth."
Not content with having just one Moon to hang with all the time, our planet has snatched a smaller asteroid into its gravitational pull. Dubbed 2016 HO3, the asteroid is about the size of a building and has an irregular orbit around Earth.
NASA reports that it is currently locked in an irregular orbit around Earth,
Earth’s gravity is just strong enough to reverse the drift and hold onto the asteroid
This new asteroid is much more locked onto us.
To: smokingfrog
2016 HO3, as the asteroid is called, is at least 40 meters across and could be larger, up to 100 meters, researchers say, but it’s too far from Earth to qualify as a true satellite or mini-moon.
“Since 2016 HO3 loops around our planet, but never ventures very far away as we both go around the sun, we refer to it as a quasi-satellite of Earth,”
???
So make up your mind! I’ve never heard of the criteria that it has to be X distance to be a “moon”. If it is in a stable orbit around Earth, then it is a moon.
I have continually used the words of NASA..why must everyone focus on that so strongly.
Asteroid 2016 HO3 has an orbit around the sun that keeps it as a constant companion of Earth.
originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: charlyv
SOHO and ACE are in "halo" orbits at L1. Oh, hell. I'll make it easy:
en.wikipedia.org...
originally posted by: wildespace
a reply to: SeaWorthy
Earth's gravity does have influence on that asteroid, true, but it's still not orbiting Earth. All those sources you quoted are non-NASA sources that worded it in their own way.
Phage linked the actual NASA source, and it clearly states that it's not a true satellite of Earth.
The asteroid's apparent "orbit" around the Earth isn't stable either, so it's not a true moon of ours even from that perspective.
"Since 2016 HO3 loops around our planet
originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: SeaWorthy
So, what was the point?
That an object with an interesting Solar orbit was recently discovered?
Or....
Maybe it's a spaceship! In which case, wrong forum.
originally posted by: tikbalang
a reply to: Phage
Can you dumb it down for me?
I cant read the facts due to all the stories..
Please?
originally posted by: Mogget
The estimated size of this object is "less than 100 metres". That is very small by astronomical standards, and therefore the object is very faint. It was almost certainly discovered by pure chance, as it is hardly lighting up the solar neighbourhood like a beacon. Anyway, what does this object have to do with Nibiru, or this ridiculous "second Sun" rubbish?
But it gets weirder. Because the orbit is slightly longer than Earth’s, you’d expect it to drift away over many years, lagging behind Earth more and more every year. But that’s not the case! Earth’s gravity tugs on HO3, changing the orbit slightly every time they pass.
HO3 is moving just a few kilometers per second relative to Earth in some parts of it orbit, making it much easier to send a probe there. Or maybe, someday, humans.