2016 HO3, as the asteroid is called, is at least 40 meters across and could be larger, up to 100 meters, researchers say, but it’s too far from Earth to qualify as a true satellite or mini-moon.
“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,”
???
So make up your mind! I’ve never heard of the criteria that it has to be X distance to be a “moon”. If it is in a stable orbit around Earth, then it is a moon.
“If it is in a stable orbit around Earth, then it is a moon.”
Some light reading ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co-orbital_configuration
I think what they are saying is that this rock came into an earth orbit and will continue to be in an earth orbit for some time to come until gravitational effects of future planetary alignments become such that the rock is freed from earth's influence and continues its journey through space.
“If it is in a stable orbit around Earth, then it is a moon.”
Doesn’t the size effect it’s status as moon? I thought they bumped Pluto for being too small to be a legitimate planet.
“If it is in a stable orbit around Earth, then it is a moon.”
It could orbit us for centuries and not be in a truly stable orbit though. If it’s eventually going to fly off elsewhere, then the orbit isn’t stable, even if it takes centuries before we fling it off.
Reading other articles, I think the poorly worded statement didn’t mean that it was further than some maximum distance which defined what was too far to be a moon, but only that because it was so distant, it didn’t orbit the Earth as a true moon would.
The asteroid is too far to orbit the earth in a constant ellipse, like a moon would. Rather, it’s bobbing and weaving in a highly erratic pattern that’s stable enough to hold for centuries, but not millions or years.
You want crazy, read about Trojan satellites!
I generally can’t make any sense out of this stuff without visualizing it; from our friends at the JPL: