What's in a moon?

[link|http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/front/1583911|Long-lost Apollo rocket returns to Earth orbit]

Earth's new satellite is most likely the third stage of a massive Saturn V rocket that lifted Apollo 12 astronauts to the moon in November 1969, according to astronomers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Last seen in an elongated 43-day orbit around Earth, the bus-sized rocket stage escaped Earth orbit in March 1971, the laboratory's Paul Chodas said in a statement.
...
"Last week we didn't know for sure that it had been captured, and now there's no doubt that it was captured in April of this year," Chodas said.

"What's more, we are virtually certain that it originally escaped Earth orbit in March 1971 and that it will escape again next June," he said. "It's only a temporary visitor."
...
When J002E3 was circling the Sun, it completed 33 orbits in the time it took Earth to orbit 31 times. It lapped Earth once in 1986, but was not snagged by Earth's gravity; this year it was about to lap Earth again but passed too close to the L1 portal and Earth captured it.

Post #51,416 by Mike 9/11/02 2:00:16 PM Reply	What's in a moon? An interesting [link\|http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2251386.stm\|article] describing the appearance of a third natural satellite around the earth. (Third because some would claim that Cruithne was the second "moon" or natural satellite). [link\|http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/second_moon_991029.html\|Cruithne] There are only 10 kinds of people in the world....those that understand binary and those that don't.
Post #51,420 by drewk 9/11/02 2:10:58 PM Reply	Astronomy just keeps finding cool stuff === Microsoft offers them the one thing most business people will pay any price for - the ability to say "we had no choice - everyone's doing it that way." -- [link\|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=38978\|Andrew Grygus]
Post #52,544 by SpiceWare 9/20/02 6:07:31 PM Reply	it's man-made [link\|http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/front/1583911\|Long-lost Apollo rocket returns to Earth orbit] Earth's new satellite is most likely the third stage of a massive Saturn V rocket that lifted Apollo 12 astronauts to the moon in November 1969, according to astronomers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Last seen in an elongated 43-day orbit around Earth, the bus-sized rocket stage escaped Earth orbit in March 1971, the laboratory's Paul Chodas said in a statement. ... "Last week we didn't know for sure that it had been captured, and now there's no doubt that it was captured in April of this year," Chodas said. "What's more, we are virtually certain that it originally escaped Earth orbit in March 1971 and that it will escape again next June," he said. "It's only a temporary visitor." ... When J002E3 was circling the Sun, it completed 33 orbits in the time it took Earth to orbit 31 times. It lapped Earth once in 1986, but was not snagged by Earth's gravity; this year it was about to lap Earth again but passed too close to the L1 portal and Earth captured it. Darrell Spice, Jr. [link\|http://home.houston.rr.com/spiceware/\|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
Post #52,550 by Ashton 9/20/02 6:53:31 PM Reply	Lose a glove in space and.. You are (well your DNA is) immortal. Physics + ~vacuum = the ultimate punctilious CPA (??) :-\ufffd

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