
Small Asteroid Is Earth's Constant Companion - fforflo
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6537
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avar
How does this affect Earth's status as a planet? The asteroid seems to be
sharing our orbit, and the IAU has decided that if you haven't cleared your
orbit you're not a planet. That's how Pluto got disqualified.

Are we a dwarf planet now?

~~~
DCKing
'Clearing your orbit' is not a qualitative term. It is actually something that
is quantifiable: a value that expresses the relation of the mass in the
planet's orbit compared to the mass of the planet itself.

A tiny asteroid won't change that value much for Earth, which is more than
comfortably a planet under this definition. The mass of this asteroid may not
even affect the estimates of the mass of the regular space debris in our orbit
even (haven't checked).

~~~
avar
I didn't know that the "clearing your orbit" requirement had the caveat that
it had to be cleared up to a given mass ratio. Do you know what that mass
ratio is?

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blatant
It's not a moon, it is a quasi-satelite.*

We know of multiple, but this appears to behave like an actual moon more
accurately than the others.

"[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasi-
satellite](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasi-satellite)

~~~
RileyKyeden
I'm disappointed they didn't go with quasilite.

~~~
civilian
They didn't go with that because that's what we call newcomers to Seattle!

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tener
It is just 100 meters across. A single nuke and we will be back to one moon.

Alternative scenario: cut it down to pieces, bring back to Earth - perhaps it
is made of gold or better?

~~~
hirsin
Perhaps a good test site for Planetary Resources, although it sounds like it
may be too small. Can you call dibs on an asteroid?

~~~
zo1
No, you can't technically call "dibs" on it. It's not enough that all
governments on earth have taken up _all_ the land on the planet, they claim
all of space as well:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Space_Treaty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Space_Treaty)

It's been ratified by most of the governments on our planet.

The key part from the wiki page:

"[...]the Treaty states that "outer space, including the Moon and other
celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of
sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means"

~~~
JumpCrisscross
> _[the Outer Space Treaty has] been ratified by most of the governments on
> our planet_

The United States has already started passing legislation [1] which lets
American companies claim ownership of celestial objects with the backing and
force of American law and law enforcement.

[1] [http://www.space.com/31177-space-mining-commercial-
spaceflig...](http://www.space.com/31177-space-mining-commercial-spaceflight-
congress.html)

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ChuckMcM
Fun! So now to find the writeup for the KSP parameters for an intercept. It
would be fascinating if it were an alien artifact, designed in such a way that
you would have to reach a certain level of technology to actually see it, and
then a bit further to go out and visit it. Leave a box on it with pictures for
how to call the aliens to have a talk with them.

If nothing else it would be a fun story to write.

~~~
colordrops
> it would be a fun story to write

You mean 2001?

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barisser
Too small to destroy the Earth, yet not big enough to act as a Space Prison...
alas.

~~~
noonespecial
Just the right size to turn into our first starship?

~~~
m_mueller
That would actually make sense if its mass could be turned into fuel.

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int0x80
That's no Moon.

~~~
bronson
It's 1/2 the size of an aircraft carrier... Not much of a battle station
either.

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broahmed
Planetary Resources [1] (that asteroid mining company) might be interested in
this bit of news. Hope it's minable!

[1] [http://planetaryresources.com/](http://planetaryresources.com/)

~~~
developer2
I find that so disappointing. Of course there are people already planning to
rip resources out of the cosmos. Once you've left Earth barren, of course it
makes sense to spread our destructive tendencies throughout the solar system /
galaxy.

~~~
zo1
Unless you plan on us living a life of bare subsistence, and artificially-
limiting our population growth, there is no way around it. There is no
equivalent to "being one with mother-nature" when you get to this stage. At
this point, resources are just there to fuel our existence, and using up
barren raw-resource pockets outside of our current "home" seems like a very
good way of doing it.

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aclissold
This is so romantic! Earth has a little friend that (at least on a human
timescale) has always been there, always will be, no questions asked <3

~~~
mhurron
You mean like the moon?

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heroprotagonist
If I were aliens attempting to subtley measure the progress of life on Earth,
that's where I'd put my monitoring station.

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teslaberry
One word, cruithne

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dang
Url changed from [http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/space/stories/earth-has-
cap...](http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/space/stories/earth-has-captured-
second-moon-says-nasa), which points to this.

------
csours
The 3rd planet is sure that they're being watched

By an eye in the sky that can't be stopped. [1]

1\.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsnELWjsCsA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsnELWjsCsA)

