And here's the happy couple now...
(Okay, at least it's not another scientific treatise on "Uranus"...) :-)
Posted on 07/12/2018 7:32:34 PM PDT by BenLurkin
The bouncing-baby asteroids were revealed by three radar telescopes, which shoot a beam of radio waves at nearby asteroids and wait for the reflection to return to Earth. Astronomers can use those received signals to paint a picture of the shape of an asteroid. In this case, that meant discovering that what looked like two lobes of one rock are actually two separate rocks, circling each other every 20 to 24 hours.
It's a particularly exciting surprise because the two pieces of 2017 YE5 are almost the same size, each about 3,000 feet (900 meters) across. So far, scientists have spotted only three other such well-matched pairs. Most binary asteroids are uneven, with one half dwarfing the other.
The new observations of 2017 YE5 showed another eye-catching result: The pair aren't identical twins. One half of the binary looks to be much darker than the other, suggesting that they're made of different things, or perhaps have extremely different textures.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
20 posts before the Uranus reference.
FReepers are slipping
Spin them in place, around the long axis between the two,
so if they ever were to separate, they would come together,
from the gravity between them, rather than fly apart, so close to Earth.
Also less strain on the trussing between the two.
They are each quite big enough to simulate gravity (upside down) under the surface while spun, but you might need to “bag” them to keep them from spinning material off into space or spinning to pieces.
Ships can land upside down on the “roof” in surface hangers,
or there can be a tunnel all the way through the long axis. Or both.
Are they sure it’s not the superimposition of the Trump Baby, eclipsing all other bodies in the upper stratosphere?
Let me guess?
They’re from the Dewey Decimal System, beyond the Galaxy 500XL.
How long can this pair last? Woildnt they eventually fall into each other?
As long as we want it to?
I hear we’re getting a space force.
Space farce?
(Okay, at least it's not another scientific treatise on "Uranus"...) :-)
Why, then does no the earth fall into the sun, or the moon onto the earth. Actually, the moon is going the other way, receding away from earth due to tidal breaking. (It's complicated.)
Any two bodies in orbit are perfectly stable in the absence of external forces. They have so little gravity that it would not take much to disrupt them, and cause them to go along on separate orbits. A close pass near a planet could do it. The only two planets whose orbit they cross are the gravitational pipsqueaks Earth and Mars. The orbit is tilted by 6.21 degrees from earth's orbit, so it is unlikely they will ever come close enough to earth to seriously interact.
16 lunar distances ~ 16 x 240,000 miles = 16 x (1,000,000/4 -10,000) = 4,000,000 - 160,000 ~ 3,840,000 miles. A long ways off.
I know, I was just being a wise-ass.
Those aren’t asteroids! It’s a trap! It’s the assault ship and his wingman!
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