There’s something else other than the moon circling our planet. NASA says it’s the asteroid 2016 HO3 which could be called earth’s second moon. It is a small asteroid that orbits the sun and earth, as per the agency.
The asteroid is a ‘quasi-moon’ of earth. It was first discovered by the Pan-STARRS 1 asteroid survey telescope located in Hawaii in April this year. Astronomers keeping close eye on the tiny companion said that 2016 HO3 will stay away from earth at a distance of some 9 million miles. They also added that the asteroid will pose threat to earthlings in future.
The asteroid is orbiting the sun and earth, but it could be called our planet’s mini moon because it never goes very far away from the planet as both of them circle the sun, said Paul Chodas of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“Our 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”, added Chodas, manager of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at the agency.
The astronomers don’t have accurate data on the size of 2016 HO3, but they predicted that the asteroid could be about 120 feet and may have diameter not larger than 300 feet. They also said that its orbit gives hint that it experiences a slow twist over many years.
As per NASA, there are possibilities that the asteroid will remain in orbit around the sun and earth for next few more centuries.
According to a report in Huffington Post by Lee Speigel, "The small asteroid that’s orbiting the sun, and which also appears to circle Earth, is called 2016 HO3 — which sounds more like the name of a “Star Wars” droid — and was discovered in April by the Pan-STARRS 1 asteroid survey telescope in Hawaii. NASA only recently announced the discovery."
“Since 2016 HO3 loops around our planet, but never ventures very far away as we both go around the sun, we refer to it as a quasi-satellite of Earth,” said Paul Chodas, manager of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
“The asteroid’s loops around Earth drift a little ahead or behind from year to year, but when they drift too far forward or backward, Earth’s gravity is just strong enough to reverse the drift and hold onto the asteroid so that it never wanders farther away than about 100 times the distance of the moon,” Chodas explained.
"The "quasi-satellite," known as 2016 HO3 in the scientific community, is likely somewhere between 120 and 300 feet across, researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said. The asteroid is technically orbiting the sun, but it appears to circle the earth as well, making it the most stable example of a space companion yet discovered," according to a news report published by Oregon Live.
"One other asteroid -- 2003 YN107 -- followed a similar orbital pattern for a while over 10 years ago, but it has since departed our vicinity," Paul Chodas, manager of NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, said in a statement. "This new asteroid is much more locked onto us. Our 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."
"The asteroid's loops around Earth drift a little ahead or behind from year to year, but when they drift too far forward or backward, Earth's gravity is just strong enough to reverse the drift and hold onto the asteroid," Chodas said in a statement.
By: Luis Georg (Perf Science).
Photo: Physics-Astronomy.com
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