Earth is about to lose a moon !

Now this is interesting, an asteroid that has been looping around the earth while the earth orbits the sun for ? And it's not alone !

"from NASA's news page"

News flash: Earth has a "second moon." Asteroid 2003 YN107 is looping around our planet once a year.

Measuring only 20 meters across, the asteroid is too small to see with the unaided eye—but it is there.

Corkscrew Asteroid 06.09.2006

A tiny asteroid looping around Earth for the past seven years is about to leave the neighborhood.

science.nasa.gov...

Ah, so we're not losing the one made out of cheese, phew!

Interesting find

"These asteroids are not truly captured by Earth's gravity," notes Chodas. "But from our point of view, it looks like we have a new moon."

So it's not "really" a moon, but it behaves like one. Nice to know that we've had a "visitor" dancing with us for a few years though

Very cool.

I never heard of anything like this before.

Hmm, interesting, however a few years ago, i was watching a TV show in England called QI: Quite Interesting.
Its a quiz show where common held 'facts' that are infact wrong and/or misconception are corrected.
One fact that was given was that Earth has 2 moons(which a year later was then upped to 7) the second one being called 'Cruithne'.
Here is some information regarding this second moon.
Cruithne
I'm not an Astronomer so i have no idea if its correct or not, but that show is known for its facts.

Well I'll be dipped in peanut butter and thrown to the squirrels!
How dangerous could a 20 metre asteroid be?

Well 2003 YN107, see ya again in 60 years.

That's like a party guest that nobody noticed was there - then as soon as someone says hello to them they scarper.

Imagine if we had more than one moon, we'd have had to give the Moon a proper name. And learn to understand even more complex time mechanics, not that many people have learned the one-moon systems rhythms yet. What if there was more than one sun, we'd have ancient calanders of even greater volume than the calanders we do have with sections on things like 'on the days of two shadows' and stuff like that.

Originally posted by Toadmund
How dangerous could a 20 metre asteroid be?

About equal to 433 KiloTons TNT. Nothing close to a earth killer but not something I would want hitting anywhere near me

www.lpl.arizona.edu...

It's amazing how modern astrology and space exploration has changed our everyday lifes.

From the Hubble telescope and the photos of Schumacher levy 9 hitting Jupiter several years back to the Mars rovers still working on the red planet today.

The information gained from these programs simply is astounding.

From what I have read on line and seen on programs like the History and the Science Channel it is a very difficult job trying to track near earth asteroids, and as important as it is ( Earths survival ) from being hit by a rock from space you would think it would be a priority to the worlds governments to find and track these objects.

Here is a site I like to visit at least once a week, Space Weather.com, theses guy's try to keep track of what's going on up there in the heavens, and report on their site the Sun and NEA's activity that could affect our lives here on earth

www.spaceweather.com...

This is great-my friends son is about 7 years old,and last year he told me that earth has 2 moons,one being a tiny asteroid.I said to his dad"thank god they teach cool stuff like that in schools these days."
Anyway,this thread confirms his story.Good find!

Nasa & other space organizations need to sit down and think about what makes a planet a planet & a moon a moon. Like its mass, and its orbit...things like that.

I keep hering about talk of a tenth planet...when I'm not convinced we have nine. My personal view is that Neptune is the furthest out planet. and Pluto it just apart of the KBO.

Damn!
That's where I kept my stash...

U2U for 1-liner sent

[edit on 26-6-2006 by masqua]