[meteorite-list] Small Asteroid Is Earth's Constant Companion (2016 HO3)

From: Bigjohn Shea <bigjohnshea_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2016 15:47:03 +0200
Message-ID: <trinity-475b337a-35a9-428b-9c5c-ddbb996c97bc-1466084823573_at_msvc-mesg-gmxus003>

List,
Hope you are all well.

Does anyone know if we have any data on it's composition? I have trouble believing we would not have found ANY meteorites from this asteroid after nearly a century of being neighbors.

Cool discovery!
Cheers,

John A. Shea MD
IMCA 3295




Sent using the mail.com mail app

On 6/16/16 at 1:04 AM, Steve Dunklee via Meteorite-list wrote:

> Cool! This asteroid could be our best defence against a larger object. as we could change its orbit to intercept and deflect ?a larger one.CheersSteve
>
> From: Ron Baalke via Meteorite-list <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> To: Meteorite Mailing List <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2016 7:48 PM
> Subject: [meteorite-list] Small Asteroid Is Earth's Constant Companion (2016 HO3)
>
>
> http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6537
>
> Small Asteroid Is Earth's Constant Companion
> Jet Propulsion Laboratory
> June 15, 2016
>
> A small asteroid has been discovered in an orbit around the sun that keeps
> it as a constant companion of Earth, and it will remain so for centuries
> to come.
>
> As it orbits the sun, this new asteroid, designated 2016 HO3, appears
> to circle around Earth as well. It is too distant to be considered a true
> satellite of our planet, but it is the best and most stable example to
> date of a near-Earth companion, or "quasi-satellite."
>
> "Since 2016 HO3 loops around our planet, but never ventures very far away
> as we both go around the sun, we refer to it as a quasi-satellite of Earth,"
> said Paul Chodas, manager of NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object (NEO)
> Studies at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "One
> other asteroid -- 2003 YN107 -- followed a similar orbital pattern for
> a while over 10 years ago, but it has since departed our vicinity. This
> new asteroid is much more locked onto us. Our calculations indicate 2016
> HO3 has been a stable quasi-satellite of Earth for almost a century, and
> it will continue to follow this pattern as Earth's companion for centuries
> to come."
>
> In its yearly trek around the sun, asteroid 2016 HO3 spends about half
> of the time closer to the sun than Earth and passes ahead of our planet,
> and about half of the time farther away, causing it to fall behind. Its
> orbit is also tilted a little, causing it to bob up and then down once
> each year through Earth's orbital plane. In effect, this small asteroid
> is caught in a game of leap frog with Earth that will last for hundreds
> of years.
>
> The asteroid's orbit also undergoes a slow, back-and-forth twist over
> multiple decades. "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," said Chodas. "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."
>
> Asteroid 2016 HO3 was first spotted on April 27, 2016, by the Pan-STARRS
> 1 asteroid survey telescope on Haleakala, Hawaii, operated by the University
> of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy and funded by NASA's Planetary Defense
> Coordination Office. The size of this object has not yet been firmly established,
> but it is likely larger than 120 feet (40 meters) and smaller than 300
> feet (100 meters).
>
> The Center for NEO Studies website has a complete list of recent and upcoming
> close approaches, as well as all other data on the orbits of known NEOs,
> so scientists and members of the media and public can track information
> on known objects.
>
> For asteroid news and updates, follow AsteroidWatch on Twitter:
>
> http://www.twitter.com/AsteroidWatch
>
> News Media Contact
> DC Agle
> Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
> 818-393-9011
> agle at jpl.nasa.gov
>
> Dwayne Brown / Laurie Cantillo
> NASA Headquarters, Washington
> 202-358-1726 / 202-358-1077
> dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov / laura.l.cantillo at nasa.gov
>
> 2016-154
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Received on Thu 16 Jun 2016 09:47:03 AM PDT