Study: Earth shares its orbit with tiny asteroid

http://www.physorg.com ^ | July 27, 2011 | By MALCOLM RITTER

[Red Badger]

Like a poodle on a leash, a tiny asteroid runs ahead of Earth on the planet's yearlong strolls around the sun, scientists report.

The discovery of this companion, which measures only about 300 yards across, makes Earth the fourth planet in the solar system that's known to share its orbit with an asteroid.

Imagine Earth and the asteroid traveling around a clock face, with the sun in the middle. Generally, the asteroid runs about two numbers ahead.

However, the asteroid sometimes ranges so far ahead that it's on the opposite side of the sun from Earth, said Martin Connors of Canada's Athabasca University in Alberta. He reports the work with colleagues in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

Asteroids are giant space rocks that orbit the sun, and ones that share an orbit with a planet are called Trojans. Scientists had previously found a few for Mars and Neptune and nearly 5,000 for Jupiter. Spotting one in Earth's orbit is difficult from the ground because the potential locations are generally in the daytime sky.

The newfound object, called 2010 TK7, was discovered last year by NASA's WISE satellite. Connors and colleagues were able to focus a ground-based telescope in Hawaii on it in April, determining its orbit with enough precision to show it was a Trojan.

Donald K. Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office, who didn't participate in the discovery, agreed that the asteroid is a Trojan. Most scientists suspected Earth had them, he said, and "I would guess there's others.

[cripplecreek]

Seems kind of likely considering how much crap is out there.

[Calvin Locke]

Like a poodle on a leash, a tiny asteroid runs ahead ...

Obviously not a NASCAR fan. I prefer to think that we (Earth) are on the verge of lapping the asteroid.

[cripplecreek]

The moon is our drafting partner.

[COBOL2Java]

I think we’ve found a home for the Islamists...

[GonzoGOP]

If we had a space program that actually did things in space instead of Muslim outreach this would be a fantastic target. A lot closer than the Asteroid belt so you don't need a lot of delta V to make the rendezvous. Stable, non inclined orbit. Close enough to the sun that you can use Solar rather than NTG. And at 300 meters big enough to explore, but not so large that you need to worry about the liftoff. Just cut the anchor cable and drift away.

Of course you would need to have a budget and a man rated rocket, and the US has neither at the moment. I wonder if Richard Branson wants an asteroid? Of course I always figured he was more likely to go for Vesta.

[RadiationRomeo]

Doesn’t sound like it’s in a lagrange point because the article hinted that it changes the distance to Earth.

Maybe it actually a space probe from the other Earth that is exactly on the other side of the sun. They are watching us and they don’t like the idea of dopplegangers on another planet.

Its only a matter of time before they attack!

[kosciusko51]

There was a similar asteroid found last year, but it was in a horseshoe orbit (see below).

My guess is that this new object orbits around the L4 point, and circles back before it reaches L3.

[GonzoGOP]

Obviously not a NASCAR fan. I prefer to think that we (Earth) are on the verge of lapping the asteroid.

Just try not to swap paint. The results can be nasty.

[Waverunner]

Sounds like a great place to put a real space station. Build it with the asteroid as a sun shield.
Solar power on the sunny side, a space telecope on the back side. Great also for a radio telescope. You could base nuclear powered spaceships there, so that they don’t have to hang around in near earth orbit. Any pictures yet?

[cripplecreek]

I wonder if Richard Branson wants an asteroid?

I'm afraid Richard Branson can't have an asteroid.

The res communis doctrine resounds most prominently when dealing with property ownership rights in outer space. The Outer Space Treaty not only forbids claiming of territory by nations, but its child, the Moon Treaty, attempts to extend that prohibition to private legal entities also. Although the United States is not a signatory to the Moon Treaty, it has not taken open actions to actually refute its legal viability. The result is that the Moon Treaty and its res communis doctrine has slowly crept into the realm of accepted international law.

It’s time to rethink international space law

"What prudent merchant will hazard his fortunes in any new branch of commerce when he knows not that his plans may be rendered unlawful before they can be executed?"

-James Monroe

[Red Badger]

300 Yards ain’t a lot of room.....................

[GonzoGOP]

No nation that has a space program has ever signed the Moon treaty. Most importantly while the US hasn't openly objected to it the PRC has. As soon as there is a way to make a buck (Yuan) from an asteroid the PRC or the Russians will grab one. And after that blows the UN useless treaties to bits everyone else will too.

The League of Nations made war illegal. How did that work out for them?

[TheBigIf]

I had seen a story of earth sharing its orbit with either a second much smaller moon nearly eight years ago.

[TheBigIf]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3753_Cruithne

[Red Badger]

The orbits intersect. TWICE!
That could be a problem, Houston..................

[cripplecreek]

The simple fact is that western nations will cling to the treaties they never signed and we’ll be left in the dust because we don’t have the stones to stand and take what should be ours.

Private industry won’t blow billions without being damn sure the courts won’t take their profit away.

[kosciusko51]

While it apparently looks if they intersect:

If you plot the orbit relative to the Earth (yellow line), they never intersect.

[GonzoGOP]

The simple fact is that western nations will cling to the treaties they never signed and we’ll be left in the dust because we don’t have the stones to stand and take what should be ours.

The perfect example of this is the old Washington Naval Treaty. It limited Battleships to 35,000 tons and 16" guns and cruisers to 10,000 tons. Of course the Germans and Japanese cheated like crazy meaning that one for one their ships were better than ours at the beginning of the war. But once the cheating became obvious (before the war it should be pointed out) the US laid down the 45,000 Iowa class that smashed through the treaty limits like a 16" shell through a pane of glass. All the design work and blueprints for the Iowas was done before we renounced the treaty in 1939. And the only reason we stayed with 16" was that the 16"x50 of the Iowa had better armor piercing performance that the 18" guns the Japanese were using.

In summary we stayed with the treaty so long as doing so didn't matter. No private company is going to an asteroid anytime in the near future, so why argue about it. Once someone blows the treaty away nobody is going to pay attention to it any more.

[bmwcyle]

There might be enough room for liberals.