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First Earth Trojan Asteroid Discovered
The Bad Astronomer writes "Astronomers have found the very first Earth Trojan asteroid, a rock that more-or-less shares Earth's orbit around the Sun. Seen in data by NASA's WISE mission, 2010 TK7 is about 300 meters across and leads the Earth by 60 degrees around the Sun. Trojans have been seen for Jupiter, Neptune, and Mars, but this is the first for our planet."
... the very first Earth Trojan asteroid,
Curse its sudden but inevitable betrayal.
-- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
This one should be called 'Lagrange'
The asteroid orbits one of the two Lagrangian points of stability of the Earth-Sun system
I like the proposed names of Coeus or Crius, the sons of Gaia for those who didn't RTFA, that that author suggests.
Time to offend someone
And here I thought that from what I've heard so far that Earth had possibly some dust or at most some gravel at its L4 and L5 points. This discovery of a sizable asteroid there makes the Earth's L4/L5 points much more interesting. Hopefully there is even more to be found!
while true; do eject; eject -t; done
Given its position earth will never clear its orbit, but then I guess Jupiter shouldn't be considered one either as it also has an asteroid trapped in one of its Lagrange points.
Time to offend someone
No, the Lagrange points are stable garbage dumps for planets to put "small" things of 9% of its mass or less, the stuff stays there. It's one of the ways a planet clears its orbit.
When did it get there?
Since this trojan shows that the Earth hasn't cleared its orbit, does that mean that Earth is no longer considered a planet?
Being in a Lagrange point doesn't mean that the Earth hasn't cleared its orbit. Unless you want to argue that the presence of a moon means the Earth hasn't cleared its orbit. After all, the moon also roughly follows the orbit of the earth around the Sun.
Well, now, uh, Launcelot, Galahad and I, wait until nightfall, and then leap out of the asteroid, taking the French, uh, by suprise. Not only by suprise, but totally unarmed! ...*Who* leaps out?
What's scarier is that it could be full of space Spartans.
This is madness!
THIS. IS. SPAAAAAACE!
Planets can clear their orbits by placing things in their Lagrange points. Same way teenagers clean their rooms by shoving everything in the closet or under the bed.
Who will be the first person to suggest placing VLBI radio telescopes at each lagrange point? Oh I guess it'll be me. A nice heavy asteroid would be convenient for vibration dampening WRT antenna pointing.
The problem is when/if we ever do planetary colonization, those L points will be in high demand for planetary relay satellites, as no matter where any other planet is in its orbit relative to earth's orbit, at least one earth L point should be in view... so what do we want there, sensitive receivers or big ole transmitters? I'm guessing we'll have some kind of scientific "quiet hours" scheme where the scientists get the first second of every minute, first minute of every hour, and first hour of every day, of radio silence. Or maybe they'll just be screwed?
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
...2010 TK7 is about 300 meters across...
It would be kind of cramped, and I rather suspect the gravitational pull would be negligible for all practical purposes.
MCSE? No, sir...I don't do Windows. Yes, I am an idealist. What's your point?
Given that the barycenter's center of mass is within Earth itself, I'm happy to call it Earth's orbit for simplicity's sake. Come to think of it, the only planet or dwarf planet whose satellite is massive enough to place the barycenter outside of the planet itself is Pluto.
I suppose that the astronomy and astrophysics communities could further refine the definition of planet based not only on size, but on the location of mass relative to a satellite...
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
It would be kind of cramped, and I rather suspect the gravitational pull would be negligible for all practical purposes.
Assuming the same average density as Earth, the surface gravity would be about 1/50000 that of Earth. I make it 0.0002 meters/second squared.
...laura
http://visions2200.com/SpaceHabitat.html
A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
could you elaborate, was that the clarity, taste, aroma or bouquet?
No, the Lagrange points are stable garbage dumps for planets to put "small" things of 9% of its mass or less, the stuff stays there. It's one of the ways a planet clears its orbit.
Theoretically you are right. Practically, the orbit of TK7 is actually unstable. Because TK7 executes some Lissajous orbit around L4 and the Moon orbit is eccentric (search for the "the case of the Earth-Moon system" in the linked page).
Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.