Astronomers Find Newly Discovered Asteroid Is Earth's Companion

I'm no expert but I do enjoy following these types of threads.

At this juncture, I will post this image....

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/8c378a8db0a3.png[/atsimg]

and make an absurd observation that it will pass only .134 AU from earth (twice as close as Elenin) and then another poster will present a link like this and point out how many miles that is and not to worry. (Hint: 12,456,078.173836)

A horseshoe orbit? Which of Kepler's laws does that conform to?

I'm a master at self-debate.

Originally posted by kinda kurious
A horseshoe orbit? Which of Kepler's laws does that conform to?

Great post, love the pic.

It only appears to be a horseshoe orbit from Earth's perspective. I can't quite picture it but has to do with the fact we're both moving in a similar orbit, so I assume sometimes it appears to be moving backward or away... maybe an expert can chime in on this one?

Originally posted by BriggsBU

Originally posted by jjjtir
Additional preprint pdf and animated orbit at Armagh Observatory.

star.arm.ac.uk/highlights/2011/574.html

Here, let me stir the kettle some! Anyone else notice in the orbit diagram that the asteroid makes its closest approach to Earth around 2012? Bring in the 2012 doomsdayers!

this guy is chasing us.... wheres my popcorn!

A "200-400"-meter object in our own orbit, that we didn't find until 2009, and didn't know it was an asteroid until now.


That just goes to show how on-top of things our astronomers really are, with all their fancy equipment, I guess. They still need so many eyes to expect to see everything out there.

Originally posted by mardukiscoming
I agree that it is a pretty cool find.Not Nibiru though since Nibiru,if it exists,wont be coming our way for another thousand years or so.That is if Sitchin wasn't a crackpot and nibiru is out there somewhere.

Oh but he was a crackpot, Its a shame but he made up that crap just to make money off of the ignorant people who couldn't find out for themselves.

Here is a guy who is what Sitchin claimed to be. This guy Mike is the real deal and he shows exactly how Sitchin is wrong on so many levels. The truth is more exciting than the falsehoods.

www.michaelsheiser.com...

Originally posted by jjjtir
Additional preprint pdf and animated orbit at Armagh Observatory.

star.arm.ac.uk/highlights/2011/574.html

thats ubelievable changing direction through the "z axis"like that....
heres this natural object following a circular orbit ( a balance of forces) and it rises above its"orbital Plane"and reverses direction to transit in the opposite direction???


Any astrophyscicists in the house? Is this even possible?






Kepler must be turning over in his grave...

Like this?

Sorry OP I made a thread about this story when I seen yours I asked that the one I made be taken down. Can some one tell me how big this is and I don't get the orbit how can it turn around before it gets to earth and head back the other way? Discovery's like this are awesome thanks for the thread OP star and flag.

Hmm... Horseshoe. IJ, we just discovered it and know it does a horshoe just before colliding with the Earth. Nice maneuver. How many bets that half the top government people will be in their underground bunkers just to "make sure" it does its horseshoe maneuver, in 2012? Ha! Doom and gloom. But don't worry the public with this.

Whew, thank GOD it is on a Horseshoe orbit and will avoid a cataclysmic collision with Earth at the last moment. I feel much safer now.

Glad they're not trying to pull a fast one like with a Rabbit's foot or something since I'm superstitious.

For a brief moment there I was worried.

Originally posted by Yankee451
reply to post by Thermo Klein

 

I don't know anything about this Nibiru stuff, but to have an asteroid shadowing us for a couple hundred thousand years is pretty cool

S&F

Zecharia Sitchin wrote many fascinating books about the origins of the earth and of mankind. These were taken from translations of Sumerian and Babylonian texts in stone. Sitchin was one of the few translators of ancient Sumerian. But he noticed that all of these ancient stories (flood stories, moon stories, etc) all were related in very particular, key ways.
And when he studied the astronomy and geologic history he discovered that there were key elements to these studies that matched the stories.

The main story is about a comet/asteroid the size of a small planet that came barreling through our little solar system, knocked Uranus off it's axis, hit the earth around the area of what is now the pacific ring of fire plate, gouging tons of soil and rock out and launching it into space where it eventually coalesced to form the Moon.

'Nibiru' was the name the Sumerians gave this Comet. Sitchen said this comet comes around every so many thousands of years but that it was probably knocked off an interconnecting orbit with earth when it made that hit.
So I don't think he would be a real big fan of all the doom/Nibiru theories out there.

i would highly encourage you to pick up his first couple of books- they are truly amazing in detail and scope.

Originally posted by kinda kurious
Whew, thank GOD it is on a Horseshoe orbit and will avoid a cataclysmic collision with Earth at the last moment. I feel much safer now.

That's very simple to explain actually. Enter Chuck Norris and Bruce Willis! The asteroid has no chance!

IRM

This asteroid passed its closes to us back in 1910:




There is no threat of collision because our orbits do not cross... they are close (.02AU) at two points, but will never cross.

My take on this is that there will be others out there being discovered courtesy of WISE and to say the least, earth is Just one rock that we happen to live on and all the rocks out there may one day come back to haunt us

nice find though. SnF

Several comments in this thread mention that this asteroid is changing direction.
I am not seeing it that way. There is an important detail that is being overlooked by some in this thread.

This statement by the OP.

This asteroid is following a horseshoe shape from Earth's perspective - always staying away from Earth. In reality (not our perspective) it's in a circular orbit

This is from the Science Daily article.

In this configuration, an object mimics very closely the orbital motion of our planet around the Sun, but as seen from Earth it appears to slowly trace out a horseshoe shape in space.

Perspective......

This diagram of the asteroid's orbit may be a little misleading, because what it is showing is that this asteroid is making an abrupt 180 degree turn and heading back the other direction. What this diagram is not showing, is the Earth's orbit.

The way I understand it, is that the asteroid changes speed. It speeds up then slows down, and repeat. It is still continuing in a circular orbit, just like Earth is, but the speed change, causes it to look horseshoe from our perspective. In the diagram, when the asteroid is moving towards Earth, it is traveling faster then Earth. When it appears to turn around and go the other direction, it is actually just slowing down, which causes Earth to pull away from it. It does not actually turn around. It is still moving in the same direction.

Is there a diagram of it's orbit? I'm having a hard time picturing the horseshoe through their description.

The "horseshoe" definition refers to the shape that is drawn when the asteroid's position relative to Earth is observed over time. The same is true of Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, although they have a rather large range of eccentricities and inclinations, and can move a considerable distance away from "60 degrees ahead or behind" Jupiter itself. The real shape of 2010 SO16's orbit is almost circular.

Originally posted by bsbray11
A "200-400"-meter object in our own orbit, that we didn't find until 2009, and didn't know it was an asteroid until now.

That just goes to show how on-top of things our astronomers really are, with all their fancy equipment, I guess. They still need so many eyes to expect to see everything out there.

Think about the size though... it's a bit like spotting some random fish in the ocean... from Colorado!

Originally posted by kinda kurious
I'm no expert but I do enjoy following these types of threads.

At this juncture, I will post this image....

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/8c378a8db0a3.png[/atsimg]

A horseshoe orbit? Which of Kepler's laws does that conform to?

I'm a master at self-debate.

edit on 6-4-2011 by kinda kurious because: (no reason given)

I think calling it a horseshoe orbit is slightly misleading. If I read your diagram correctly, the Earths orbit is the white line with the green dot that says Earth on it , and the orbit of this asteroid is the light/dark blue line. The horseshoe shape is merely a perspective issue. The angle of the orbit is what causes the strange movement of this object in the sky, rather than it going literaly back and forth like a shuttle on a weaving loom.

reply to post by TrueBrit


Agreed. That was made using default software applet:

ssd.jpl.nasa.gov...

I am leaning toward BrokenCircles (apt name - LOL) observation on "perspective" I can wrap my head around that concept. I'll check out on Stellarium which is Earth based POV

The only image I could find on Horseshoe Orbit was from Wiki images:



Could someone speak to this image accuracy. Support or deny? I find it dubious. Thanks.

reply to post by kinda kurious


What is that supposed to represent? The cyan looking line? That literaly couldnt be an orbit. I mean, thats just ludicrous!