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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFeeling depressed? Down? Scared? Defeated? Well, cheer up! We've got a tiny new moon!
For real! Apparently it's the size of a car, but it's totally ours!
Unfortunately, it won't last forever though. Bummer.
Snip:
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/02/mini-moon-earth/607171/
This is going to sound preposterous, but I promise its true: Earth has another moon.
It is not the kind that will illuminate the night sky. Its invisible to the naked eye and too tiny to do any classic moon moves, like tugging on the planets oceans. But its there, orbiting the Earth, accompanying us on our journey around the sun.
A pair of astronomers discovered the miniature moon on the night of February 15. It showed up in the nightly observations of the Catalina Sky Survey, a NASA-funded project in Arizona. The survey is designed to study asteroids and comets near Earth, the kind that could potentially menace the planet if they got too close. To Kacper Wierzchos and Teddy Pruyne, the mystery object appeared as a few pixels of light moving quickly across a dusky, fixed background.
Researchers at other observatories and amateur astronomers around the world raced to monitor the newcomer in the sky, collecting as much data as they could. When they calculated its orbit, they were baffled. The object wasnt a newcomer at all. So far, their work suggests that the object has been moving around us, gravitationally bound to the Earth for the past many monthsat least a year but potentially closer to three. Weve had a tiny new moon all this time, and we didnt know about it.
So, what exactly is this thing?
Astronomers dont know everything yetits been less than two weeks!but theyve identified some traits. The object is about the size of a compact car and traces a rambling loop around Earth about every four months or so. As the object passed by Earth on its path through space, the planets gravity pulled it close. And in that moment, it became a moon.
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Feeling depressed? Down? Scared? Defeated? Well, cheer up! We've got a tiny new moon! (Original Post)
Tommy_Carcetti
Feb 2020
OP
Squinch
(50,773 posts)1. It's a spaceship. And they have a book. It's called, "How to serve man."
AND IT'S A COOKBOOK!!!
Roland99
(53,342 posts)2. "That's no moon"
SWBTATTReg
(21,856 posts)3. Well, I'm not going to be 'mooning' over it. Ha!