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Earth's New 'Moon" Is Space Junk
BBC ^ | 9-12-2002 | David Whitehouse

Posted on 09/12/2002 3:01:44 PM PDT by blam

Thursday, 12 September, 2002, 11:57 GMT 12:57 UK

Earth's new 'moon' is space junk

Has this rocket returned to Earth?

By Dr David Whitehouse
BBC News Online science editor

So, it looks like Earth does not have a new "moon" after all The latest analysis of the mysterious object called J002E3 suggests it could well be a leftover Saturn V rocket component from one of the Apollo lunar missions.

The suspicious, fast-moving object was discovered on 3 September by Bill Yeung from his observatory in Arizona, US. Initial orbit calculations indicated that it was only about twice as far away as the Moon, and in orbit around the Earth.

At first, astronomers were not sure whether the object was a passing chunk of rock that was captured by the Earth's gravity, or a piece of space junk.

Now the mystery may have been solved thanks to a retrospective analysis of its movement through space. The object is most likely from the Apollo 12 mission, launched on 14 November 1969.

Returned to sender

It seems that the object was in orbit around the Sun until April of this year when it was captured by the Earth's gravity. The capture occurred when the object passed near the Earth's L1 Lagrange point, a region of space where the gravity of the Earth and Sun approximately cancel.

J002E3 is the first known case of an object being captured by the Earth, although Jupiter has been known to capture comets in the same way.

The most recent analysis of J002E3's pre-capture orbit about the Sun shows that it was always inside the Earth's orbit, and that it may have come within the Earth's vicinity in the early 1970s or late 1960s.

This suggests that J002E3 was very likely orbiting the Earth during this period before escaping into solar orbit.

Experts say that it is likely that this object is one of the Apollo Saturn rocket's third stages. The brightness of J002E3 seems to match the expected brightness of such a component.

Analysis of J002E3's orbit suggests that there is a chance of it impacting the Moon in 2003, and an outside possibility of it burning up in the Earth's atmosphere sometime in the next decade or so.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: apollo12; earths; goliath; j002e3; junk; moon; new; space
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1 posted on 09/12/2002 3:01:44 PM PDT by blam
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To: *Space
Index Bump
2 posted on 09/12/2002 3:08:26 PM PDT by Free the USA
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To: blam
Why does the fact that it's space junk means that it's not a moon? Don't we call them "satellites"?
3 posted on 09/12/2002 3:09:44 PM PDT by aristeides
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To: aristeides
Depends on the meaning of "is". Semantics.
4 posted on 09/12/2002 3:14:05 PM PDT by Lokibob
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To: blam
BTTT
5 posted on 09/12/2002 3:15:54 PM PDT by facedown
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To: aristeides
"Why does the fact that it's space junk means that it's not a moon? Don't we call them "satellites"?"

In general a "moon" is naturally occuring, a "satellite" has been placed there by other than natural phenoms. Of course, technically either one is a satellite.

Michael

6 posted on 09/12/2002 3:16:28 PM PDT by Wright is right!
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To: blam
bump.... impacting the moon could be interesting ... especially if it's a near side impact.
7 posted on 09/12/2002 3:20:28 PM PDT by Centurion2000
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To: aristeides
Moons are natural satellites.
8 posted on 09/12/2002 3:21:21 PM PDT by Conservative til I die
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To: general_re
,,, the best look I had at some space junk was the Mir Station, within the last 24 hours of it being burned up.
9 posted on 09/12/2002 3:23:27 PM PDT by shaggy eel
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To: blam
The object is most likely from the Apollo 12 mission, launched on 14 November 1969.

The most recent analysis of J002E3's pre-capture orbit about the Sun shows that it was always inside the Earth's orbit, and that it may have come within the Earth's vicinity in the early 1970s or late 1960s.

Looks like the rocket scientists (pun intended) have it figured out all right.

10 posted on 09/12/2002 3:33:03 PM PDT by Hoosier Patriot
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To: blam
Orbit shows "second Moon" may be Apollo junk

16:10 12 September 02
NewScientist.com news service

A mystery object recently found orbiting the Earth is more likely to be a used rocket booster from an Apollo spacecraft than a tiny second Moon.

NASA scientists have now analysed the object's orbit, which "indicates that it could be a leftover Saturn V third stage from one of the Apollo missions, most likely the Apollo 12 mission, launched on 14 November 1969".

The computer simulations were carried out by Donald Yeomans and Paul Chodas at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. They show that the object's orbit is consistent with a booster that circled the Earth in the 1960's or 1970's, was then captured by the Sun and finally returned to Earth orbit in April 2002.

The object was spotted on 3 September by an astronomer in Arizona and was initially thought to be an asteroid passing the Earth. But further observations revealed that a 50-day Earth orbit at an altitude rising from 300,000 to 800,000 kilometres.

Light reflected by the object suggests that it is between 10 and 50 metres in size. These dimensions led astronomers to suspect that it might be a discarded section of rocket, but they could not immediately link it to any particular mission. Some have speculated that it could be an asteroid and have even dubbed the object a "second Moon".

It is still possible the object, dubbed J002E3, will turn out to be a new Moon. But more observations and modelling will be needed to determine if it space rock or space junk.

At its current distance, no telescope can resolve the object clearly, says Robert Massey of the UK's Royal Observatory. "Essentially it's like trying to resolve one of the landers on the surface of the Moon - no telescope can do it," Massey told New Scientist.

He suggests that radar observations would be the best way to determine the size and shape of the object. Studying radiation reflected by the object would also let astronomers determine its composition, he says.

Whatever it is, it may not be around for long. Yeomans and Chodas calculated that the object has a 20 per cent chance of smashing into the Moon by the end of 2003.

Will Knight

11 posted on 09/12/2002 3:33:30 PM PDT by blam
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To: blam
Jeez, make sure no one tells MarK Sibrel about this, he's going to be disappointed, this just punches another hole in his Fake moon landings theory.
12 posted on 09/12/2002 7:14:32 PM PDT by foto
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To: foto
Jeez, make sure no one tells MarK Sibrel about this, he's going to be disappointed, this just punches another hole in his Fake moon landings theory.

What's one more? To the people who buy that stuff, nothing matters.

13 posted on 09/12/2002 7:18:49 PM PDT by VadeRetro
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To: shaggy eel
That's right - you would have been almost, but not quite, close enough to see it on re-entry, wouldn't you? I seem to recall that the footage that everyone saw was shot in Fiji. Must have been quite a show ;)
14 posted on 09/12/2002 8:45:41 PM PDT by general_re
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To: RadioAstronomer; RightWhale
fyi
15 posted on 09/12/2002 8:50:57 PM PDT by piasa
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To: general_re
,,, just before 6am on a Saturday I went down to the beach and waited. Maybe around 5,56 or so it came over, cutting a course from Nelson thru to somewhere south of Napier. It was remarkably low as far as satellites go - so low that it appeared somewhat slower and had a yellowish glow. Satellites are always bright white and a lot higher, as you'll know. At the time, this site helped me track it.
16 posted on 09/12/2002 8:53:40 PM PDT by shaggy eel
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To: shaggy eel
Ah, so you caught it on one of it's final orbits then, not long before it entered the atmosphere and burned up. Must have been quite a sight - did you wake the kids, or go it alone? ;)
17 posted on 09/12/2002 9:07:23 PM PDT by general_re
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To: general_re
,,, no, the kids weren't there that weekend. Went down to the beach with my wife [before she was my wife]. Very clear skies down this way and seeing Mir on one of it's final runs was really a silver box moment for us. After it came down, there were bits and pieces hitting the atmosphere for at least a couple of days.
18 posted on 09/12/2002 9:21:06 PM PDT by shaggy eel
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To: shaggy eel
Heck of a light show. Dammit - I'm always on the wrong side of the planet for the really cool stuff ;)
19 posted on 09/12/2002 9:25:07 PM PDT by general_re
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To: blam

That's no moon!


20 posted on 09/12/2002 9:25:24 PM PDT by The FRugitive
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