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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
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!")
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.)
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)
To: ClearCase_guy
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.)
To: SunkenCiv
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.)
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
To: BenLurkin
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.)
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
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.)
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.)
To: BenLurkin
"It's coming right for us!"
12
posted on
01/26/2015 6:44:29 PM PST
by
dfwgator
To: BenLurkin
13
posted on
01/26/2015 6:44:33 PM PST
by
PJ-Comix
(Coakley/Gruber 2016!!!)
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.)
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!
To: BenLurkin
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!)
To: BenLurkin
Just a chip off the ol’ block ....
17
posted on
01/26/2015 6:49:48 PM PST
by
mikrofon
(Moonday BUMP)
To: BenLurkin
does it have a man in its moon, too?
18
posted on
01/26/2015 6:49:54 PM PST
by
blueplum
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.)
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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