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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: Stingray51
To me, it seems strange that a smallish object like an asteroid would have enough gravity to keep a moon in its orbit.

Consider that the nucleus of an atom can hold all kinds of electrons in moonlike orbit. Yet the nucleus is so tiny we cannot even see it.

32 posted on 01/26/2015 7:58:38 PM PST by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
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To: Stingray51

The trick is that gravity is based on mass and distance. In the asteroid belt, the planets are so far away that their gravitational influence is very weak. Asteroids have much less mass, but since they are much closer, they exert the largest attraction in the neighborhood, and start orbiting each other.


37 posted on 01/26/2015 10:29:45 PM PST by Boogieman
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