Newly discovered Trojan asteroid shares Earth's orbit - Polidicks

[URL]http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/SciTech/20110729/trojan-asteroid-discovered-1100729/[/URL] Video in source. [QUOTE]A Canadian astronomer's 20-year search has finally been rewarded with the discovery of a so-called Trojan asteroid -- a rock the size of several football fields that is effectively riding in tandem with Earth as it orbits the sun. Dr. Martin Connors, who holds a Canada Research Chair in Space Science at Athabasca University, led the team that discovered the asteroid using an orbiting NASA telescope. While there are many types of asteroids orbiting the sun, most are travelling at their own speeds. "This one is going at the same speed as the Earth and it stays pretty equidistant from the Earth although it's moving in our own orbit, so that's what makes it special," Connors told CTV's Canada AM. The rock, dubbed 2010 TK7, is estimated to be between 200 and 300 metres in diameter, and sits in a gravitational sweet spot just ahead of Earth -- effectively locked in a gravitational balancing act between the planet and the sun. As a result, it poses no danger to Earth, he said. Astronomers are excited about Trojans because they represent one of the best opportunities to land an astronaut on an asteroid -- one of NASA's stated future goals now that the shuttle program has been mothballed. Unlike other asteroids, Trojans are stable and predictable, and in relatively close proximity to Earth. Other Trojans have been discovered near Jupiter, Neptune and Mars. Connors said 2010 TK7 is tilted, and therefore isn't likely a candidate for a visit from an astronaut. But its discovery makes it highly likely there are other Trojans also sharing Earth's orbit, which could make better candidates for a landing. "If the U.S. economy doesn't collapse, potentially we'll have space travel in the future and it is a stated goal to send astronauts to an asteroid and this type of asteroid would actually be a pretty good type to go to," he said. A successful landing, he said, could help solve mysteries about the Earth's origin and answer questions about whether asteroids could be used as a source of important minerals. Because Trojans are caught between their host planet and the sun, they are only visible for a brief window each evening, and in the early morning hours. As a result, a space-based telescope such as NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer is typically needed to spot them. 2010 TK7 currently sits about 80 million kilometres from Earth. [/QUOTE] Correct me if I am wrong, but wouldn't this be one of the easiest asteroids to mine?

moon's younger brother.

Amazing, if its orbit is in tandem with the earth's, it's probably been with us since the formation of the solar system, or close to it.

Oh phew, At least it will never crash into us if it stays the same.

we're going to all die on this rock, deal w. it

[QUOTE=Centic;31407254]we're going to all die on this rock, deal w. it[/QUOTE] Pretty defeatist attitude, I think we have the potential to do some pretty amazing things out there in space if we as a species can get our shit together.

[QUOTE=Centic;31407254]we're going to all die on this rock, deal w. it[/QUOTE] We are. Our species wont.

[QUOTE=Centic;31407254]we're going to all die on this rock, deal w. it[/QUOTE] our generation. sure but we best leave some fucking awesome spaceships for our children's children to colonise planets in then.

Now, lets mine the fuck out of it!

Earth has a good antivirus, nothing to be worried about.

Hopefully some rogue asteroid doesn't come out of nowhere and clip the 'front' of it. All it'd take is for a reasonable amount of force to be applied on the side of this trojan asteroid facing its direction of motion (because it's ahead of the Earth) and we'd run right into it. Thankfully the odds of that happening are astronomically low, though. ... heh. Astronomically low.

Oh look, condoms just in our grasp. But this will be one of the easiest asteroids to mine, as it is just near us and will never really move that much.

So, is it just sitting in an L2 or L4 Lagrange point? That would make it an excellent mission target, close and stable. Edit: Why would you mine an asteroid that's only a few hundred meters across? They'd have to break up the entire rock to get at any ore it contains, which wouldn't be very much.

wow it moves as fast as Earth

[QUOTE=catbarf;31408083] Why would you mine an asteroid that's only a few hundred meters across? They'd have to break up the entire rock to get at any ore it contains, which wouldn't be very much.[/QUOTE] For practice on bigger asteroids.

[QUOTE=valkery;31408114]For practice on bigger asteroids.[/QUOTE] Once you get into orbit you're halfway to anywhere. Why waste huge amounts of money on a practice mission when for the same cost they could just go to a bigger asteroid?

[QUOTE=catbarf;31408276]Once you get into orbit you're halfway to anywhere. Why waste huge amounts of money on a practice mission when for the same cost they could just go to a bigger asteroid?[/QUOTE] Because there may be things that we don't know about the process of mining an asteroid that only mining a small asteroid will allow us to know. If we go from NO ASTEROID to GIANT ASTEROID mining, than we could incur some extremely bad repercussions.

gee,if this asteroid ever tries to hit us, i hope we have protection [I]hurrhurr[/I]

[QUOTE=Centic;31407254]we're going to all die on this rock, deal w. it[/QUOTE] C'mon, singularity! I was reading an article about people trying to scientifically beat death, and was chanting that. I feel the same way about space travel. Let the singularity happen in my lifetime, and I'll be extremely happy. Maybe.

[QUOTE=valkery;31408364]Because there may be things that we don't know about the process of mining an asteroid that only mining a small asteroid will allow us to know. If we go from NO ASTEROID to GIANT ASTEROID mining, than we could incur some extremely bad repercussions.[/QUOTE] Like what? They're rocks. Big rocks. We know what's in them, we know what rocks do in vacuum. This isn't exactly theoretical science. Worst case scenario, the asteroid breaks up, which would happen with any small asteroid anyways. What you're suggesting is that space agencies should spend billions and billions of dollars and risk lives so they can go to an interstellar pebble and make sure that rock behaves like rock.

[quote]"If the U.S. economy doesn't collapse"[/quote] lol fuckkk

Its a flying potato.

[QUOTE=booster;31407660]Now, lets mine the fuck out of it![/QUOTE] Don't, I bet it's inhabitated by a small hostile race of green exploding aliens.

[QUOTE=Wnd;31408113]wow it moves as fast as Earth[/QUOTE] Otherwise it wouldn't be in our orbit

[QUOTE=Joazzz;31410727]Don't, I bet it's inhabitated by a small hostile race of green exploding aliens.[/QUOTE] I would not be surprised if they had 4 legs.

So it is either at L4 or L5.

[QUOTE=aznz888;31408388]gee,if this asteroid ever tries to hit us, i hope we have protection [I]hurrhurr[/I][/QUOTE] It's cool man, it'll just burn up in Earth's firewall.

[QUOTE=deathstarboot;31407280]Pretty defeatist attitude, I think we have the potential to do some pretty amazing things out there in space if we as a species can get our shit together.[/QUOTE] They'll sink the ISS a few years from now and we will never go back to space, unfortunately.

[QUOTE=Madman_Andre;31413182]They'll sink the ISS a few years from now and we will never go back to space, unfortunately.[/QUOTE] You are not a true Warhammer Fan!

[QUOTE=MrPorygon;31411986]I would not be surprised if they had 4 legs.[/QUOTE] "ThatssssssssSSSSSsss a nice planet you have there..." [editline]29th July 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=valkery;31413218]You are not a true Warhammer Fan![/QUOTE] What does Warhammer have anything to do with what I said?