FreeLists / az-observing / [AZ-Observing] Earth's New Moon, Not!

[PHXJeff@xxxxxxx]

From the ALPO list:

***************
Thursday, 12 September, 2002, 11:57 GMT 12:57 UK 

EARTH'S NEW 'MOON' JUST SPACE JUNK

By Dr David Whitehouse 
BBC News Online science editor 

So, it looks like Earth does not have a new "moon" after all 

The latest analysis of the mysterious object called J002E3 suggests it 
could well be a leftover Saturn V rocket component from one of the 
Apollo lunar missions. 

The suspicious, fast-moving object was discovered on 3 September by Bill 
Yeung from his observatory in Arizona, US. Initial orbit calculations 
indicated that it was only about twice as far away as the Moon, and in 
orbit around the Earth. 

At first, astronomers were not sure whether the object was a passing 
chunk of rock that was captured by the Earth's gravity, or a piece of 
space junk. 

Now the mystery may have been solved thanks to a retrospective analysis 
of its movement through space. The object is most likely from the
Apollo 12 mission, launched on 14 November 1969. 

Returned to sender ...

It seems that the object was in orbit around the Sun until April of this 
year when it was captured by the Earth's gravity. The capture occurred 
when the object passed near the Earth's L1 Lagrange point, a region of 
space where the gravity of the Earth and Sun approximately cancel. 

J002E3 is the first known case of an object being captured by the Earth, 
although Jupiter has been known to capture comets in the same way. 

The most recent analysis of J002E3's pre-capture orbit about the Sun 
shows that it was always inside the Earth's orbit, and that it may have 
come within the Earth's vicinity in the early 1970s or late 1960s. 

This suggests that J002E3 was very likely orbiting the Earth during this 
period before escaping into solar orbit. 

Experts say that it is likely that this object isthe Apollo Saturn 
rocket's third stage. The brightness of J002E3 seems to match the 
expected brightness of such a component. 

Analysis of J002E3's orbit suggests that there is a chance of it 
impacting the Moon in 2003, and an outside possibility of it
burning up in the Earth's atmosphere sometime in the next decade or so.

******************

Jeff

                          Jeff Hopkins
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