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Earth's "Second Moon" Gets Close, Briefly

Posted by timothy on from the check-its-deodorant dept.

angkor writes with a snippet from MSNBC: "An asteroid that behaves something like a second moon to Earth will make its closest approach to our planet next week before shuttling back into deep space for nearly a century."

10 comments

  1. First... by Cyno01 · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Thats no moon, Its a battle Station" Post!

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    "Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
    1. Re:First... by CableModemSniper · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      I got a bad feeling about this...

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      Why not fork?
  2. Who cares? by Tuxinatorium · · Score: 1, Troll

    It's just a 200-foot wide asteroid that the earth-moon system happened to capture. Even if it did hit earth it wouldn't do any serious harm.

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    Repeal the DMCA!
    1. Re:Who cares? by Twilight1 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Well, you would probably care if it happened to hit in your back yard...

      ...but not for long. ;)

      - Twilight1

    2. Re:Who cares? by Patrik_AKA_RedX · · Score: 1

      "...but not for long. ;)" That depends on the existance of an afterlife. Either he'll care for eternity or for 3ns.

    3. Re:Who cares? by EvilBastard · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I care about this cause it's "orbit" as seen from Earth is Really,Really, Reallyneat.

      Although I admit that everytime I look at the JPL Orbit Diagrams, I feel the urge to load up the original version of Elite

  3. Haha, funny URL by GigsVT · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    http://www.msnbc.com/news/854509.asp?0dm=C11IT

    MS must have claimed that article in the name of CL1T. :)

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    I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
  4. In Soviet Russia... by I'm+not+a+script,+da · · Score: 0

    ...moon battles you!

  5. Link to JPL's press release by netjeff · · Score: 2, Informative

    Here's a link directly to JPL's press release:

    http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/2003/1.cfm

    There are several interesting anmiations.

  6. I don't get it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're right that is neat. But why does it orbit the earth's path (not the earth, which is stationary in the diagram), all the way around the sun? What keeps pulling it back to the plane of the ecliptic when it's on the otherside of the sun from us? And then why does it start going backwards?