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A Mysterious Object Is Hurtling Towards Earth, and Scientists Don't Know What It Is [But they have a real good idea fo what it is]
newsweek ^ | 11/30/2020 | Aristos Georgiou

Posted on 11/30/2020 12:45:56 PM PST by BenLurkin

The object, dubbed 2020 SO by astronomers, will come within "just" 31,605 miles of our planet at 3:50 a.m. ET on December 1, according to NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS.)

This is an "extremely close," albeit safe, approach...

The object, which is estimated to measure between 15-33 feet across, was discovered by the Pan-STARRS survey based in Maui, Hawaii, on September 17, 2020. This find was confirmed two days later by the Minor Planet Center, which is responsible for the designation of minor bodies in the solar system.

Initial observations suggested that the object was an asteroid. But scientists at CNEOS soon began to suspect that 2020 SO was not a normal asteroid.

CNEOS director Paul Chodas subsequently suggested that 2020 SO may not be an asteroid at all, tentatively identifying it as the Centaur rocket booster from NASA's failed Surveyor 2 lunar mission, which launched on September 20, 1966.

He came to this conclusion after turning back the clock and running the object's orbit backwards using a computer model to work out its past trajectory through space.

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


TOPICS: Astronomy; History; Science
KEYWORDS: 2020so; astronomy; centaur; minimoon; minimoons; nasa; quasisatellite; quasisatellites; science; spacejunk; surveyor2
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To: BenLurkin

It’s probably just a drop box full of Biden votes that got lost by the USPS.


41 posted on 11/30/2020 2:15:05 PM PST by antidemoncrat (Biden's )
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To: Autonomous User

God, she was just beautiful.


42 posted on 11/30/2020 2:16:40 PM PST by Cowgirl of Justice
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To: Cowgirl of Justice

I’m guessing here that the chances of it hitting a specific home in Chappaqua are low.


43 posted on 11/30/2020 2:24:58 PM PST by EQAndyBuzz (RELEASE THE BRACKEN!)
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To: BenLurkin

Three men on horses with sealed letters in their hands? The time for the three horsemen has come.


44 posted on 11/30/2020 2:59:10 PM PST by TonyM (Score Event)
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To: BenLurkin

What goes up, must come down...even when it has escape velocity!


45 posted on 11/30/2020 3:42:26 PM PST by Ronaldus Magnus
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To: Autonomous User

Only 49.


46 posted on 11/30/2020 4:08:13 PM PST by BigEdLB (All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others-George Orwell)
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To: BenLurkin

47 posted on 11/30/2020 5:01:32 PM PST by Petrosius
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