Few of us know that planet Earth has been host to a “second moon” for the past seven years. And now, this fickle little rock is going to move along. An Earth-orbit-crossing Space Rock got a little too close to the gravitational influence of our planet and has been screwing around for the past few years — but not for long.
June 9, 2006: News flash: Earth has a “second moon.” Asteroid 2003 YN107 is looping around our planet once a year. Measuring only 20 meters across, the asteroid is too small to see with the unaided eye—but it is there.
This news, believe it or not, is seven years old.
“2003 YN107 arrived in 1999,” says Paul Chodas of NASA’s Near Earth Object Program at JPL, “and it’s been corkscrewing around Earth ever since.” Because the asteroid is so small and poses no threat, it has attracted little public attention. But Chodas and other experts have been monitoring it. “It’s a very curious object,” he says.
Right: The typical corkscrew path of an Earth Coorbital Asteroid.
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