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News Flash: Asteroid Flying Past Earth Today Has Mini-Moon!
universetoday.com ^

Posted on 01/26/2015 6:34:33 PM PST by BenLurkin

Asteroid 2004 BL86, which passed closest to Earth today at a distance of 750,000 miles (1.2 million km), has a companion moon. Scientists working with NASA’s 230-foot-wide (70-meter) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California, have released the first radar images of the asteroid which show the tiny object in orbit about the main body.

...

2004 BL86 measures about 1,100 feet (325 meters) across while its moon is approximately 230 feet (70 meters) across. The asteroid made its closest approach today (Jan. 26th) at 10:19 a.m. (CST), however it will peak in brightness this evening around 10 p.m. (4:00 UT) at magnitude +9.0. Unlike some flybys, 2004 BL86 will remain within a few tenths of a magnitude of peak brightness from 6 p.m. tonight (CST) through early tomorrow morning, so don’t miss the chance to see it in your telescope.

(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy
KEYWORDS: 2004bl86; asteroid; asteroids; catastrophism
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This animation, created from 20 individual radar images, clearly show the rough outline of 2004 BL86 and its newly-discovered moon... Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
1 posted on 01/26/2015 6:34:33 PM PST by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin

...and the mini-moon has a micro moon and so on infinitum.


2 posted on 01/26/2015 6:36:34 PM PST by Flick Lives ("I can't believe it's not Fascism!")
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To: BenLurkin
Mini-Moon aime le chocolat.
Scotty, n'est pas.
3 posted on 01/26/2015 6:37:37 PM PST by ClearCase_guy (Malort, turning taste-buds into taste-foes for generations.)
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To: BenLurkin

to attract another object, it must have some dense mass

wonder what it’s made of (and i’m real glad it missed)


4 posted on 01/26/2015 6:38:58 PM PST by sten (fighting tyranny never goes out of style)
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To: ClearCase_guy

hmmmmmm


5 posted on 01/26/2015 6:39:13 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Of possible interest


6 posted on 01/26/2015 6:39:36 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

I don’t like the looks of that mini moon’s orbit...


7 posted on 01/26/2015 6:41:07 PM PST by sargon
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To: BenLurkin

Cute little fella.


8 posted on 01/26/2015 6:41:10 PM PST by Gamecock (Joel Osteen is a preacher of the Gospel like Colonel Sanders is an Army officer.)
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To: sargon

I guess it’s a side view, so to speak...


9 posted on 01/26/2015 6:42:30 PM PST by sargon
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To: sargon

Look to me like it’s coming in for a landing.


10 posted on 01/26/2015 6:42:45 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: sten

No, it just needs any mass at all and it will attract other objects.


11 posted on 01/26/2015 6:42:50 PM PST by coloradan (The US has become a banana republic, except without the bananas - or the republic.)
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To: BenLurkin

"It's coming right for us!"

12 posted on 01/26/2015 6:44:29 PM PST by dfwgator
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To: BenLurkin

Mini Me!


13 posted on 01/26/2015 6:44:33 PM PST by PJ-Comix (Coakley/Gruber 2016!!!)
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To: dfwgator

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking


14 posted on 01/26/2015 6:46:11 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

So it turns out that lots of asteroids have mini-moons. To me, it seems strange that a smallish object like an asteroid would have enough gravity to keep a moon in its orbit. Then again, I never took astrophysics!


15 posted on 01/26/2015 6:46:59 PM PST by Stingray51
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To: BenLurkin

“That’s no Moon.......”


16 posted on 01/26/2015 6:49:29 PM PST by bobby.223 (Retired up in the snowy mountains of the American Redoubt and it's a great life!)
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To: BenLurkin

Just a chip off the ol’ block ....


17 posted on 01/26/2015 6:49:48 PM PST by mikrofon (Moonday BUMP)
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To: BenLurkin

does it have a man in its moon, too?


18 posted on 01/26/2015 6:49:54 PM PST by blueplum
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To: BenLurkin
Kind of roundish for a run of the mill asteroid.
19 posted on 01/26/2015 6:52:37 PM PST by The Cajun (Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, Mark Levin, Mike Lee, Louie Gohmert....Nuff said.)
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To: BenLurkin; GeronL; Slings and Arrows; SunkenCiv

Don’t look, Ethyl... but it was too late...


20 posted on 01/26/2015 6:53:07 PM PST by a fool in paradise (Shickl-Gruber's Big Lie gave us Hussein's Un-Affordable Care act (HUAC).)
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