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New 'moon' found around Earth There could be another one By Dr David Whitehouse BBC News Online science editor An amateur astronomer may have found another moon of the Earth. Experts say it may have only just arrived. Much uncertainty surrounds the mysterious object, designated J002E2. It could be a passing chunk of rock captured by the Earth's gravity, or it could be a discarded rocket casing coming back to our region of space. It was discovered by Bill Yeung from his observatory in Arizona and reported as a passing Near-Earth Object. It was soon realised however that far from...

Mystery Object Orbits Earth A puzzling object just discovered in orbit around Earth might be an Apollo rocket on a fantastic journey through the solar system. NASA Sept. 20, 2002: Something odd is circling our planet. It's small, perhaps only 60-ft long, and rotates once every minute or so. Amateur astronomer Bill Yeung first spotted the 16th magnitude speck of light on Sept. 3rd in the constellation Pisces. He named it J002E3. Automated asteroid surveys scan the skies every few weeks, yet there was no sign of Yeung's object earlier this year. "It must have entered Earth orbit recently," says...

Long-Lost Apollo Rocket Returns to Earth Orbit Fri Sep 20, 4:46 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A long-lost piece of an Apollo rocket has returned to Earth orbit after decades of racing around the Sun, the first time our planet has captured an object from solar orbit, astronomers said on Friday. Earth's new satellite is most likely the third stage of a massive Saturn V rocket that lifted Apollo 12 astronauts to the moon in November 1969, according to astronomers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Last seen in an elongated 43-day orbit around Earth, the bus-sized rocket...

Mystery Object Orbits Earth A puzzling object just discovered in orbit around Earth might be an Apollo rocket on a fantastic journey through the solar system. Listen to this story via streaming audio , a downloadable file , or get help . Sept. 20, 2002: Something odd is circling our planet. It's small, perhaps only 60-ft long, and rotates once every minute or so. Bill Yeung, an amateur astronomer in California, first spotted the 16th magnitude speck of light on Sept. 3rd in the constellation Pisces. He named it J002E3.Automated asteroid surveys scan the skies every few weeks, yet...

Thursday, 12 September, 2002, 11:57 GMT 12:57 UKEarth'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...

MYSTERY OBJECT: Yesterday, astronomers in Arizona, New Mexico and Spain, all hunting for near-Earth asteroids, discovered a "mystery object" orbiting Earth. Temporarily named "9U01FF6," it is small and in an elongated, 31-day orbit. Experts say it is probably a piece of an Apollo-era Moon mission. We'll get a closer look on Oct. 29th when it zips past Earth about 82,000 km (0.2 lunar distances) away. Advanced amateur astronomers can find it using this ephemeris [see link].

Newly Discovered Object Could be a Leftover Apollo Rocket Stage An analysis of the orbital motion of the newly discovered object J002E3 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 November 14, 1969. The new object was discovered on September 3 by Bill Yeung, who noted that it was moving quite rapidly. Initial orbit computations by the Minor Planet Center indicated that the object was only about twice as far away as the Moon, and was actually in orbit about our planet....