The US Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration confirmed that there is an existing mini-moon, which will be the second moon around the earth. This is orbiting around the planet. NASA discovered this due to the space program and aeronautics.
The said asteroid has a measure of 120 feet to 300 feet in diameter. It was designated as the ‘Asteroid 2016 HO3’.
The asteroid’s loops around Earth drift a little ahead or behind from year to year, but when they drift too far forward or backward, Earth’s gravity is just strong enough to reverse the drift and hold onto the asteroid so that it never wanders farther away than about 100 times the distance of the moon… The same effect also prevents the asteroid from approaching much closer than about 38 times the distance of the moon. In effect, this small asteroid is caught in a little dance with Earth.” said Paul Chodas who is the Manager of the NASA Center’s NEO (Near-Earth Object)
The asteroid is considered as the ‘quasi-satellite’. This is an opposition from being a true satellite because of the distance of the satellite from the earth.
trendingnewsportal.net
Post a Comment