Wrong-Way, Daredevil Asteroid Plays 'Chicken' with Jupiter

space.com ^ | 03/29/2017 | Hanneke Weitering

[exnavy]

i hate when your ‘roids get out of sync with your planet!

[JimRed]

Fortunately the orbital periods are so long (about 11.8 years) that if it does not get caught by Jupiter’s gravity and “slingshotted” towards Earth this time around, I’ll (probably) be dead by the time it does. And my heirs will have found a way to deflect it.

[PIF]

retrograde motion is not natural and could be a signal or sign post saying,”Look at me; there’s something here” ... aliens again!

But point of fact, there are a lot of inexplicable oddities surrounding the moons of Saturn and Jupiter.

[Svartalfiar]

But point of fact, there are a lot of inexplicable oddities surrounding the moons of Saturn and Jupiter.

[PIF]

... and now for something not made in Hollywood but is actually real:

Saturn's moon Iapetus and that is a 12 mile high ridge around on and around the entire equator. If you look closely you will see that the moon is NOT round, but more like a polyhedron.

[T-Bone Texan]

Wow, what could possibly have caused that ridge?

Accretion due to 2 large bodies smashing together?

That is super cool.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Aw....that’s just a picture of a walnut.

[PIF]

“Accretion due to 2 large bodies smashing together?”

Last I read, all natural causes had been ruled out by those studying the object (a very large object but not a natural moon - perhaps).

Remember, the ridge is perfectly aligned with the equator, not a random alignment as one might expect from some natural cause.

Then there is the very strong radio source in Saturn’s B-ring ...

[PIF]

Wait ‘til you see the nutcracker ...

[SunkenCiv]

2017 Western U., Athabasca U., Large Binocular Telescope Observatory [Backwards asteroid shares an orbit with Jupiter without crashing | Leah Crane]

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from 3/30/2017. Thanks BenLurkin.

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[rdl6989]

A walnut was my first thought too.

[Larry Lucido]

in a state known as retrograde motion.

Like it's the one that's going the wrong way. How do they know everyone else isn't going the wrong way?

[SunkenCiv]

© Scott Sheppard [Two new moons discovered around Jupiter, bring total to 69 | Kelly Beatty | Sky & Telescope]

[Larry Lucido]

Accretion due to 2 large bodies smashing together?

It got t-boned by another planet. In fact, you may as well call it "T-Bone."

[SunkenCiv]

Jupiter’s Known Satellites
http://home.dtm.ciw.edu/users/sheppard/satellites/jupsatdata.html

Jovian Satellite Fact Sheet
https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/joviansatfact.html

[SunkenCiv]

What is a barycenter?
Planets and stars actually orbit around their common center of mass.
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/barycenter/

[T-Bone Texan]

I was hoping for a star to be named after me, but I’ll take what I can get.

Can I name my daughter “Accretia”?

[SunkenCiv]