• Newly Discovered Asteroid Orbits Earth In Horseshoe Orbit
    63 replies, posted
[QUOTE] Astronomers from the Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland have found that a recently discovered asteroid has been following the Earth in its motion around the Sun for at least the past 250,000 years, and may be intimately related to the origin of our planet. Their work appears in a paper in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The asteroid first caught the eye of the scientists, Apostolos "Tolis" Christou and David Asher, two months after it was found by the WISE infrared survey satellite, launched in 2009 by the United States. "Its average distance from the Sun is identical to that of the Earth", says Dr Christou, "but what really impressed me at the time was how Earth-like its orbit was". Most near-Earth Asteroids — NEAs for short — have very eccentric, or egg-shaped, orbits that take the asteroid right through the inner solar system. But the new object, designated 2010 SO16, is different. Its orbit is almost circular so that it cannot come close to any other planet in the solar system except possibly the Earth. The researchers set out to investigate how stable this orbit is and how long the asteroid has occupied it. To do that, they first had to take into account the current uncertainty in the asteroid's orbit. "Not knowing precisely the location of a newly-discovered NEA is quite common", explained Dr Asher. "The only way to eliminate the uncertainty is to keep tracking the asteroid for as long as possible, usually months or years". But the two scientists overcame that problem by creating virtual "clones" of the asteroid for every possible orbit that it could conceivably occupy. They then simulated the evolution of these clones under the gravity of the Sun and the planets for two million years into the past and in the future. They found that all the clones remained in a so-called "horseshoe" state with respect to the Earth. In this configuration, an object mimics very closely the orbital motion of our planet around the Sun, but as seen from Earth it appears to slowly trace out a horseshoe shape in space. Asteroid 2010 SO16 takes 175 years to make the trip from one end of the horseshoe to the other. So while on the one hand its orbit is remarkably similar to Earth's, in fact "this asteroid is terraphobic", explains Tolis. "It keeps well away from the Earth. So well, in fact, that it has likely been in this orbit for several hundred thousand years, never coming closer to our planet than 50 times the distance to the Moon". This is where it is now, near the end of the horseshoe trailing the Earth. Currently, three other horseshoe companions of the Earth are known to exist but, unlike 2010 SO16, these linger for a few thousand years at most before moving on to different orbits. Also, with an estimated diameter of 200–400 metres, 2010 SO16 is by far the largest of Earth's horseshoe asteroids. The team has already used the Las Cumbres Observatory's Faulkes Telescope in an on-going campaign to track the object and refine its orbit further. "It is not that difficult to spot with a medium-sized professional telescope", says Dr Asher. "It will remain as an evening object in Earth's skies for many years to come." Ultimately, Christou and Asher would like to know where it came from, and they have already thought of several possibilities. It could be an ordinary asteroid coming from the Main Belt between Mars and Jupiter. In that case, the random gravitational pull of the different planets would be responsible for its present orbit, something that Tolis and David think is an unlikely proposition. It could also be a piece of the Moon that escaped the gravity of the Earth-Moon system and went into an independent orbit around the Sun. However, the very stability of its orbit means that there is currently no way to transport it from the Moon to where it is now. Finally, 2010 SO16 could represent leakage from a population of objects near the so-called triangular equilibrium points 60 degrees ahead of and behind the Earth in its orbit. Such a population has been postulated in the past but never observed as such objects are always near the Sun in the sky. If they do exist, they may represent relic material from the formation of Earth, Moon and the other inner planets 4.5 billion years ago. For the time being, the astronomers would like to see the physical properties of the object studied from the ground, especially its colour. "Colour, a measure of an asteroid's reflectivity across the electromagnetic spectrum, can tell you a lot about its origin", they explain. "With this information we can start testing possible origin scenarios with hard data. If it proves to be unique in some way, it may be worth sending a probe to study it up close, and perhaps bring back a sample for laboratory scrutiny." See also: Research Paper FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Apostolos Christou or David Asher at the Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh, BT61 9DG. Tel.: 028-3752-2928; FAX: 028-3752-7174; aacarm.ac.uk or djaarm.ac.uk. Images [IMG]http://www.arm.ac.uk/highlights/2011/574-media/SO16_100_fancy.org.gif[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.arm.ac.uk/highlights/2011/574-media/SO16FTN.gif[/IMG] Blink animation of the asteroid in Faulkes Telescope North images Click on image for larger version Image credit: the Faulkes Telescopes are operated by Las Cumbres Observatory Acknowledgement This publication makes use of data products from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, which is a joint project of the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This publication also makes use of data products from NEOWISE, which is a project of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, funded by the Planetary Science Division of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Notes for Editors The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS, [url]www.ras.org.uk[/url]), founded in 1820, encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. The RAS organizes scientific meetings, publishes international research and review journals, recognizes outstanding achievements by the award of medals and prizes, maintains an extensive library, supports education through grants and outreach activities, and represents UK astronomy nationally and internationally. Its more than 3500 members (Fellows), a third based overseas, include scientific researchers in universities, observatories and laboratories as well as historians of astronomy and others. [/QUOTE] Source: [url]http://www.arm.ac.uk/press/2011/aac_horseshoe_orbit.html[/url] :pcgaming:
Whoa, what
all makes sense now
I guess it wants to play horseshoe :buddy:
Slow moving bastard.
:pcgaming:
:psyboom:
Asteroid is trolling earth, pretending to crash and then at the last moment turning around.
Well, what a lucky find.
Send a rocket to meet Earth II. There the Dinosaurs are still alive and in charge.
[QUOTE=Nitrowing;29058873]Send a rocket to meet Earth II. There the Dinosaurs are still alive and in charge.[/QUOTE] I say we harvest the flying fuck out of it.
Talking about living on the edge..
It's upside down!
[quote]Currently, three other horseshoe companions of the Earth are known to exist[/quote] I'm not excited anymore
It's totally trolling us. It heads straight for earth, then goes "lol, gotya!" and goes the other way.
How is this even physically possible?
I wish they were able to explain how it's able to do a 180 and continue on its way. I mean really, it makes no sense. What makes it turn around? Why will it NEVER hit Earth or Moon? What the hell put it there to begin with? It's gods way of saying "stay on your toes, I can move it anytime I like".
I like how it starts turning away from earth at exactly 2012. That's one troll of an asteroid.
[QUOTE=ewitwins;29063967]How is this even physically possible?[/QUOTE] It's space, mother fucker.
Fucking space... How does it work!
Your avatar makes this article so much better, OP I am now reading this in Carl Sagans' voice
oh asteroid u so silly orbit But in all seriousness, that's one wacked out orbit.
I think i get it. The earth repels the Asteroid due to having the same type of magnetism. Right? rate me dumb if this is stupid or too simple.
Horseshoe Orbit. As soon as I read that, I imagined a horseshoe orbit and thought "Nah can't be that shit's impossible" But then it happened, and my knowledge of newtonian physics in our solar system splintered and broke, never to be fixed. Space yo raggedy black ass is all fucked up.
I think this horseshoe orbit is caused by the magnetic field of the earth
[QUOTE=SinjinOmega;29066120]I think i get it. The earth repels the Asteroid due to having the same type of magnetism. Right? rate me dumb if this is stupid or too simple.[/QUOTE] There's only one type of magnetism, and the asteroid would have to be far closer to be effected by our magnetosphere. Like, within viewing distance with out naked eye.
Maybe the gravity holding it will break before it gets a chance to go back and blow us up, and it does get to the point on that diagram near 2012!!!
Aliens implemented a shield into Earth core to protect us from asteroids, only plausible explanation.
The reason why it maintains a horseshoe orbit, is as the object is moving away, it looses its momentum, follows the outward accelerating force of earth's gravity. After it leaves the influences of the earth's gravity, the sun then pulls it back, creating a horseshoe orbit. Its orbit grows in diameter as it accelerates, and decreases as it decelerates. This image explains it better: [IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d6/Lagrange_Horseshoe_Orbit.jpg/595px-Lagrange_Horseshoe_Orbit.jpg[/IMG]
Like it or not, there [b]is[/b] an asteroid out there with our name on it and it's heading for us right now. That's a scary thought isn't it ?
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.