Posted on 08/05/2015 3:09:35 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Distributed at the outer edge of the asteroid belt, the Euphrosynes have an unusual orbital path that juts well above the ecliptic, the equator of the solar system. The asteroid after which they are named, Euphrosyne — an ancient Greek goddess of mirth — is about 156 miles (260 kilometers) across and is one of the 10 largest asteroids in the main belt. Current-day Euphrosyne is thought to be a remnant of a massive collision about 700 million years ago that formed the family of smaller asteroids bearing its name. Scientists think this event was one of the last great collisions in the solar system.
A new study conducted by scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, used the agency's orbiting Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) telescope to look at these unusual asteroids to learn more about near-Earth objects (NEOs) and their potential threat to Earth.
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"The Euphrosynes have a gentle resonance with the orbit of Saturn that slowly moves these objects, eventually turning some of them into NEOs," said Joseph Masiero, JPL's lead scientist on the Euphrosynes study. "This particular gravitational resonance tends to push some of the larger fragments of the Euphrosyne family into near-Earth space."
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The 1,400 Euphrosyne asteroids studied by Masiero and his colleagues turned out to be large and dark, with highly inclined and elliptical orbits. These traits make them good candidates for the source of some of the dark NEOs the NEOWISE telescope detects and discovers, particularly those that also have highly inclined orbits.
(Excerpt) Read more at astronomy.com ...
Oh man, we’ve got Euphrosynes commin’ at us man, that’s it, period end of story man, it’s game over man, we’re dead meat man, dead meat!
How many more gentle unalarming ways can they hint that this thing ( or things) is being pulled into our vicinity by Saturn’s gravity?
But, when it’s referred to as “gentle resonance”, we can almost hear the Blue Danube Waltz in the background — as the next Cherbalinsk meteor comes hurtling into Earth.
Are we being gently warned about:
Wormwood?
Its exciting living in the Left Behind series ;n)
Have you seen pictures of that thing ( or things) all lined up in symmetry like the 4 Horsemen ?
“Outcast” Biker Asteroids! What will they find next?
Oh, sorry, I thought this was an article about Graham, Christie and Kasich...
Outcast Biker Asteroids....they make their own rules...they answer to no one....they go anywhere they want to go, and do anything they want to do....and God help anyone who gets in their way!
Up to “60 percent of the diameter” of the Moon, eh? That would be a good one. ;-)
The answer is to destroy Saturn.
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