Free Republic

Earth has officially been joined in its orbit around the Sun by a new trojan asteroid. Named 2020 XL5, this chunk of rock is only the second object of its type ever to have been conclusively identified. Its discovery suggests that perhaps Earth trojans may be more common than we knew, and offers new insights into these mysterious rocks. Like the first trojan, astronomers predict that 2020 XL5 will hang around for at least 4,000 years before zipping off to parts elsewhere. "The discovery of a second Earth trojan asteroid may enhance our knowledge of the dynamics of this elusive...

“If any extraterrestrial astronomers sent an exploratory spacecraft to our solar system, then the Lagrange points are all possible destinations to send such a spacecraft,” Haqq-Misra told The Debrief. Lagrange points are so stable, spacecraft that need to remain in position use them to reduce fuel consumption. Things that go there tend to stay there due to the gravitational pull, according to NASA. Lagrange points aren’t always used on purpose to save on gas; a guest floating through could get stuck there too. “An extraterrestrial spacecraft in the solar system might also be defunct and broken, having completed its primary...

A map of the global arch-like structure of Solar System manifolds. (Todorovic et al., SciAdv, 2020) ================================================================= Invisible structures generated by gravitational interactions in the Solar System have created a "space superhighway" network, astronomers have discovered. These channels enable the fast travel of objects through space, and could be harnessed for our own space exploration purposes, as well as the study of comets and asteroids. By applying analyses to both observational and simulation data, a team of researchers led by Nataša Todorović of Belgrade Astronomical Observatory in Serbia observed that these superhighways consist of a series of connected arches inside...

If you've read your share of sci-fi, and I know you have, you've read stories about another Earth-sized planet orbiting on the other side of the Solar System, blocked by the Sun. Could it really be there? =========================================================== Color illustration showing the scale of planets in our solar system, focusing on Jupiter and Saturn. Credit: NASA =========================================================== No. Nooooo. No. Just no. This is a delightful staple in science fiction. There's a mysterious world that orbits the Sun exactly the same distance as Earth, but it's directly across the Solar System from us; always hidden by the Sun. Little do...

It is possible that such a phenomenon could occur when matter around a newborn star forms into planets. In a planet's orbit around a star, there are two places where a third body can safely orbit. These spots, known as Lagrange points, are 120 degrees in front of and behind whichever body is smaller. The discovered co-orbiting planets, located in the four-planet system KOI-730, are always 120 degrees apart, permanent fixtures in each others' night skies. Fifty million years after the birth of our solar system, the moon may have formed from the debris of a collision between Earth and...

RELEASE: 02-128 INTERPLANETARY SUPERHIGHWAY MAKES SPACE TRAVEL SIMPLER A "freeway" through the solar system resembling a vast array of virtual winding tunnels and conduits around the Sun and planets, discovered by an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., can slash the amount of fuel needed for future space missions. Called the Interplanetary Superhighway, the system was calculated by Martin Lo, who used his theory to design the flight path for NASA's Genesis mission, which is currently using this "freeway in space" on its mission to collect solar wind particles for return to Earth. Most missions are designed to...