Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Small Asteroid Discovered Orbiting Earth (cnn.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the quasi-moon dept.

Frosty Piss writes from a report via CNN: A small asteroid has been found circling Earth. Scientists say it looks like the asteroid, named 2016 HO3, has been out there for about 50 years. Calculations indicate 2016 HO3 has been a stable quasi-satellite of Earth for almost a century, and it will continue to follow this pattern as Earth's companion for centuries to come. Scientists think the asteroid is between 120 and 300 feet (37 to 91 meters) in diameter, and NASA says it never gets closer than 9 million miles (14 million kilometers) from Earth. It was found on April 27, 2016 by the Pan-STARRS 1 asteroid survey telescope in Haleakala, Hawaii. So how do we miss a 300 foot object that has been orbiting the Earth for around 50 years? Probably the same way we've missed all the flying saucers!

3 of 237 comments (clear)

  1. To put it into perspective by shockwaverider · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's about 37 times further away than the moon. Pretty far away in other words.

    Wonder if it would be a candidate for the first asteroid mining venture?

    --
    Remember kids! Guns don't kill people - Americans kill people.
    1. Re:To put it into perspective by rpresser · · Score: 2, Informative

      This asteroid is *not* in orbit around the earth. It is a quasisatellite, like Cruithne, in a true orbit around the sun ... but in such an orbit that its distance from Earth never exceeds 19 million miles.

      To reach a quasisatellite, you *will* need to leave true Earth orbit and obtain a solar orbit. Your transfer orbit will then intersect the quasisatellite's orbit, and when you get close, you will match orbits so you can land.

  2. Fucking CNN by oh_my_080980980 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Learn to fucking report. The asteroid orbits the Sun not the Earth. It's not a moon nor satellite. It's best described as a companion because the asteriod and earth follow SIMILAR ORBIT around the sun. Nothing more. Just read the JPL article: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/n... Fuck off CNN.