I wonder when the previous temporary capture was? The period is a little irregular, but looks like about every 2100 to 2300 years.
What is that, Thera? Sodom and Gomorrah?
Posted on 10/21/2002 2:37:19 PM PDT by blam
Or it could be nudged into an Earth intercept if NASA is in charge of the project. Let's just go to the asteroid, let's don't bring it here, eh?
For luck, you know...
The new one needs a name, something unpronounceable like Cruithne or the forgettable name of the new planet in the Kuiper Belt.
Note to Blam: The orbit appears horseshoe shaped, sort of, as seen from earth.
I wonder when the previous temporary capture was? The period is a little irregular, but looks like about every 2100 to 2300 years.
What is that, Thera? Sodom and Gomorrah?
That was my thought too. Let's not start nudging asteroids unless the are already in an Earth intercept.
On an orbit very closly matching earth, as it catches up with earth from "behind", it would speed up approaching earth, making its orbit larger, and thus its year would be less than earth, and then move away.
When earth next catches up to it, it would be slowed down, making its orbit lower, and revolve faster around the sun.
This ping-pong action is, what did the article say, 85 years? The part I really wonder about is how they know enough about its orbit to know that Earth would catch it as a new moon at three different points. Maybe it would enter from a Lagrange point, the way the Saturn third stage from Apollo 12 recently did.
Yes, start loading the silver bird.
Anyone got a Tongva-English, English-Tongva dictionary handy?
Now, now. Any Gaelic-speaker (a bheil Ga\idhlig no Gaeilge agaibh?), even a learner, could tell you:
From Near-Earth asteroid 3753 Cruithne: The Dalriada Celtic Heritage Trust inform us the Cruithne were "the first Celtic racio-tribal group to come to the British Isles, appearing between about 800 and 500 B.C., and coming from the European continent. They were also known as the Picts. The correct pronunciation for 'Cruithne' is 'croo-een-ya'. The emphasis should be on the -een-".
Now, now, go easy on the Gaelic orthography (it's really pretty simple):
From Near-Earth asteroid 3753 Cruithne: The Dalriada Celtic Heritage Trust inform us the Cruithne were "the first Celtic racio-tribal group to come to the British Isles, appearing between about 800 and 500 B.C., and coming from the European continent. They were also known as the Picts. The correct pronunciation for 'Cruithne' is 'croo-een-ya'. The emphasis should be on the -een-".
LOL! Pete Worden keeps showing up like a bad penny in articles of this sort. He's been angling for years to position himself for the Terrestrial Defense command, if such a thing ever comes to pass.
I'm pretty sure the Brits are forming one. ...and I think we will also eventually.
Nope -- just plain ol' orbital mechanics. The operative principle is: "speed up to slow down, slow down to speed up."
When its orbit is closer to the sun than ours it goes faster, and catches up to us from behind. This speeds it up, and raises its orbit. Then we are behind it. When we catch up to it from behind, we pull back on it, slow it down, and its orbit drops below ours, and the cycle starts again. Pretty nifty business.
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