Earth has two moons

"NASA says asteroid 2016 HO3, which we first heard about via writer George
Dvorsky at Gizmodo, is currently locked into "a little dance" with Earth:

The rock's orbit is irregular, causing it to drift between 38 and 100 times the
distance of our planet's primary moon, and bob up and down across Earth's orbital
plane.

NASA says it's larger than 120 feet across but no more than 300 feet wide, has
likely orbited our world for about a century, and will stick around for many more
centuries to come."

See:

http://www.techinsider.io/earth-has-two-moons-2016-6

In article ,
says...

"NASA says asteroid 2016 HO3, which we first heard about via writer George
Dvorsky at Gizmodo, is currently locked into "a little dance" with Earth:

The rock's orbit is irregular, causing it to drift between 38 and 100 times the
distance of our planet's primary moon, and bob up and down across Earth's orbital
plane.

NASA says it's larger than 120 feet across but no more than 300 feet wide, has
likely orbited our world for about a century, and will stick around for many more
centuries to come."

See:

http://www.techinsider.io/earth-has-two-moons-2016-6

It's not really a moon since it's not orbiting the earth in the
traditional sense. But yes, it's quite cool. Could be an interesting
target for human exploration. I wonder what the delta-V would be to get
there and back...

Jeff
--
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These posts do not reflect the opinions of my family, friends,
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suggested that ...
"NASA says asteroid 2016 HO3, which we first heard about via writer George
Dvorsky at Gizmodo, is currently locked into "a little dance" with Earth:

The rock's orbit is irregular, causing it to drift between 38 and 100 times
the distance of our planet's primary moon, and bob up and down across
Earth's orbital plane.

NASA says it's larger than 120 feet across but no more than 300 feet wide,
has likely orbited our world for about a century, and will stick around for
many more centuries to come."

See:

http://www.techinsider.io/earth-has-two-moons-2016-6

See also sci.space.news, where Ron has posted the JPL p.r.

""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."

Now we don't have to feel so alone.

/dps

--
Who, me? And what lacuna?

this would be a ideal target tooo land first a unmanned lander, and then a crew.