Researchers say undoubtedly the space rock – called 2016 HO3 – has been out there for around 50 years and isn’t leaving at any point in the near future.
“Our counts show 2016 HO3 has been a consistent semi satellite of Earth for right around a century, and it will keep tailing this case as Earth’s sidekick for a huge long time to come,” said Paul Chodas, director of NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies.
Experts think the space rock is some spot around 120 and 300 feet (37 to 91 meters) in extensiveness. It was found on April 27, 2016 by the Pan-STARRS 1 space rock review telescope in Haleakala, Hawaii.
The space rock is not going to hit us – NASA says it never gets nearer than 9 million miles (14 million kilometers) from Earth.
So does this mean Earth has another moon? NASA says that in light of the way that the space rock is so far away it can’t be seen as a trademark moon, or satellite. On the other hand perhaps, they’re calling it a “semi satellite.”
“Since 2016 HO3 floats around our planet, yet never winds amazingly far away as we both dodge the sun, we recommend it as a semi satellite of Earth,” said Chodas in an online open clarification.
Our moon, incidentally, is around 239,000 miles (384,000 kilometers) from Earth. Its diameter is around 2,000 miles (3,219 kilometers).
This isn’t the essential experienced Earth has grabbed a space rock amigo.
“One other space rock – 2003 YN107 – took after an essentially indistinguishable orbital case for a long time more than 10 years prior, yet it has since left our territory. This new space rock is essentially more impacted onto us,” Chodas said.
Also, couple of researchers think there could be other “little moons” rotating around the Earth – some unchanging and some impermanent.
In 2012, examiners utilizing a super PC close “that at any given time there ought to be no shy of what one space rock with a partition across over of no shy of what one meter spinning around Earth.”
Besides, there could be different more minute articles rotating around Earth as well.
NASA’s Near Earth Object program screens the things we consider. In like manner, there’s a Twitter record where you can take after along.