{"id":45576,"date":"2016-07-21T10:00:59","date_gmt":"2016-07-21T14:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/?p=45576"},"modified":"2016-07-21T06:09:49","modified_gmt":"2016-07-21T10:09:49","slug":"earths-new-mini-moon-confirmed-nasa-jpl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/articles\/earths-new-mini-moon-confirmed-nasa-jpl\/","title":{"rendered":"Earth’s New “Mini Moon” Confirmed by NASA JPL"},"content":{"rendered":"

First discovered by University of Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS 1 telescope on April 27, 2016, Earth’s new moon, or “mini moon” has been officially confirmed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). <\/p>\n

Officially named “2016 HO3,” the newly discovered asteroid is dubbed a “mini moon” because it not only orbits the Sun–it orbits Earth, as well.<\/p>\n

Although NASA JPL states the new mini moon is “too distant to be considered a true satellite of our planet,” nevertheless, 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.”<\/p>\n

\"Earth's
Earth’s new “mini moon” confirmed by NASA JPL. Credit: JPL.NASA.gov<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mini Moon 2016 HO3: “A Near-Earth Companion”<\/h3>\n

Considered “the best and most stable example to date of a near-Earth companion,” our new mini moon (or “minimoon”) is under NASA’s close scrutiny<\/a> at the JPL Center for Near-Earth Object (NEO) Studies in Pasadena, California. Manager Paul Chodas reports<\/a>, “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.”<\/p>\n

Located on Haleakala, Hawaii, the Pan-STARRS 1 asteroid survey telescope is operated by the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy, funded by NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office. Pan-STARRS 1 discovered the new mini moon on April 27, and NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Objects jumped on its trail immediately. <\/p>\n

Asteroid 2016 HO3, as it is officially designated, has not undergone enough analysis yet to firmly establish its size, but it’s believed to be somewhere between 120 feet (40 meters) and 300 feet (100 meters) in size.<\/p>\n

In case you’re wondering, our “real” moon is around 2,000 miles in diameter, and has been orbiting Earth for over 4 billion years. And you probably already know all this, but just in case you’d like a few official definitions<\/a>:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • An asteroid<\/strong> is a “relatively small, inactive, rocky body orbiting the Sun.”<\/li>\n
  • A meteoroid<\/strong> is a “small particle from a comet or asteroid orbiting the Sun.”<\/li>\n
  • A meteor<\/strong>, one of many in a meteor shower<\/a>, is a shooting star, or “the light phenomenon which results when a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere and vaporizes.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Leap-Frogging and Dancing with the Earth<\/h3>\n

    With a tilted orbit around the Earth, Mini Moon 2016 HO3 joins us on our yearly cycle around the Sun. Just like our old big moon<\/a>… only not. <\/p>\n

    Bobbing up and then down through Earth’s orbital plane once every year, this small asteroid spends around half of the year closer to the Sun, or in front of the Earth. The other half of the year is spent further from the Sun, or behind the Earth. NASA likens this pattern to “a game of leap frog with Earth that will last for hundreds of years.”<\/p>\n

    Think back to playing with a spirograph<\/a> as Chodas explains the fascinating gravitational forces at play between the Earth and our new mini moon. Over the passage of years, 2016 HO3’s orbit twists slowly, swaying back and forth. “The asteroid’s loops around Earth drift a little ahead or behind from year to year,” says Chodas, “but when they drift too far forward or backward, Earth’s gravity is just strong enough to reverse the drift and hold onto the asteroid so that it never wanders farther away than about 100 times the distance of the moon.”<\/p>\n

    Chodas adds, “The same effect also prevents the asteroid from approaching much closer than about 38 times the distance of the moon. In effect, this small asteroid is caught in a little dance with Earth.”<\/p>\n