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Author
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Topic: "New" Moon?
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Rizz
Member Posts: 1208
From: Upcountry, Maui, Hawaii
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 09-11-2002 04:42 PM
  
Looks like there's something else out there. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2251386.stm (Quoted)
"If it is determined that J002E2 is natural it will become Earth's third natural satellite. Earth's second one is called Cruithne. It was discovered in 1986 and it takes a convoluted horseshoe path around our planet as it is tossed about by the Earth's and the Moon's gravity." Have a look. Aloha, Riz
[This message has been edited by Rizz (edited September 11, 2002).] |
Werb
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posted 09-11-2002 06:22 PM
Very interesting. I wasn't aware of either of the 2 other "moons" It's amazing what one can learn. Thanks for sharing!!!
Mike
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42985
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 09-11-2002 06:31 PM
According to SPACE.com, the alleged moon is most likely a spent rocket stage from Apollo:Newfound Object Orbiting Earth is Likely Apollo Junk An object found Sept. 3 to be orbiting Earth every 50 days is most likely a rocket booster leftover from the Apollo era, a NASA scientist said today. Speculation had begun in various publications that the object might be a small, second natural moon of Earth. "It's most likely a spacecraft," said Donald Yeomans, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "It's not likely to be a natural object, not in that kind of orbit." Read more here: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mystery_object_020911.html |
Rizz
Member Posts: 1208
From: Upcountry, Maui, Hawaii
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 09-11-2002 06:43 PM
It could be the Apollo 12 third stage.There have been a small group of people at NASA doing Spectral analysis on it. Whatever it is, it appears to be in a figure-8 orbit around the Earth and our moon. |
Werb
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posted 09-11-2002 07:23 PM
Question is...... did they ever count on these objects coming back after they fired them off into space?? My curious mind would like to know.Mike
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rjurek349
Member Posts: 1190
From: Northwest Indiana
Registered: Jan 2002
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posted 09-11-2002 07:29 PM
Very interesting. Might the spent craft be from Apollo 13? They did float back with the Lunar Module, which most didn't, and sent that loose, and of course, the service module was damaged, and that might have altered how it would orbit or where it would go. I thought they timed/positioned these equipment to circle back to the moon and then crash. But with A13, things obviously weren't "business as ususal." Very interesting, though, to see what it might turn out to be. Rich |
BLACKARROW
unregistered
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posted 09-12-2002 05:45 PM
Rich,
Definitely not the Apollo 13 S-IVB. I'm looking at a picture of the crater left by the Apollo 13 stage near the edge of Lansberg B crater (see Apollo 16 Preliminary Science Report, page 29-44). The crater is about 134 feet in diameter and the impact was picked up by the Apollo 12 seismometer, representing one of the few scientific achievements of the aborted Apollo 13 mission. |
Ben
Member Posts: 1896
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: May 2000
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posted 09-12-2002 06:21 PM
On this NASA site, towards the bottom part of the page, are photos are various manmade moon caraters, including the Apollo 14 SIV-B stage impact, as well as the impact of Ranger 7.
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-362/ch5.2.htm ------------------
______ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
-Ben http://www.geocities.com/ovcolumbia/totaleclipse.html "'Time was invented to keep everything from happening at the same time.
Space was invented so that everything doesn't happen to you.' -Anonymous" |
Rodina
Member Posts: 836
From: Lafayette, CA
Registered: Oct 2001
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posted 09-13-2002 02:50 PM
I'm no moon hoaxer, but this photograph of the Apollo 8 TLI stage is curious (the one on the news article). The right side (from our viewpoint), is well lit by the sun... but the backside is far too brightly lit even if such light is attributable to Earthshine. The shadows aren't hard enough and, additionally, you can see stars - which would clearly be washed out from the bright sunlight.This can't possibly be a mission photograph, although labeled as such. I assume it's a NASA illustration or something. Can anyone explain this to me? [This message has been edited by Rodina (edited September 13, 2002).] |
Ben
Member Posts: 1896
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: May 2000
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posted 09-13-2002 03:42 PM
Those aren't stars. They are paint and/or ice flakes which flew off when the SM undocked from the SIV-B, and can be seen in many photos; the flakes traveled with them to the moon and always surrounded them, as seen im other photos and videos.The 'dark' side is being lit by earth, behind us in the photo. |
Rizz
Member Posts: 1208
From: Upcountry, Maui, Hawaii
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 09-18-2002 04:30 AM
Regarding some of the impacts:When the Apollo 12 ascent stage was sent crashing into the moon it created an artificial "moon quake", and the seismic equipment left on the moon by A12 recorded the shock wave for almost an hour after impact. The third stage of Apollo 13 hit the moon some 87 miles away from the A12 seismometers, creating a vibration on the moon that lasted over 3 hours. And according to a NASA Science Publication, page 17 Science at Fra Mauro; when Apollo 14's S-IVB crashed to the lunar surface, "The moon reacted like a gong." This impact also created a vibration for more than three hours. I don't know much about geology, but why would the moon ring like a gong for three hours? Sounds like it's hollow. Does anyone know what the core is made of? And speaking of impacts, why are a majority of the moons largest craters only a few miles deep. Wouldn't an impact of such a large magnitutde create a very DEEP crater? Any geologists out there? Aloha, Frank [This message has been edited by Rizz (edited September 18, 2002).] |
BLACKARROW
unregistered
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posted 09-18-2002 06:39 PM
Rizz,
According to Don Wilhelms, author of "To a Rocky Moon", "....the [Apollo 12] seismometer shook for four hours as the signals [from the Apollo 13 S-IVB] tailed off very gradually. The geophysicist experimenters eventually interpreted this unearthlike behaviour...as arising from the looseness, heterogeneity, and complete dryness of the lunar crustal material. In other words, the rocks of the Moon are waterless breccia..." |
Rizz
Member Posts: 1208
From: Upcountry, Maui, Hawaii
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 09-19-2002 03:22 AM
BLACKARROW- Thanks for the reply."the rocks of the Moon are waterless breccia..." Thats not entirely true. Apollo 16 brought back rocks containing rusted iron, and we soon found out that there is actually quite a bit of water up there in the form of ice, geyers and vapor clouds. Seismically speaking, the Earth does not "ring" like a huge gong when something crashes into it. The Earths interior is made of rock. Perhaps the Moon's is not. I just thought that it was kind of interesting (and odd) the the "moon quakes" lasted for up to 4 hours with such a significantly small object striking it. Granted, the impact equalled tons of TNT, but that lead me to the next question of why the huge craters on the Moon are not deeper than one would imagine. Seems like the Moon has one hell of an outer core, with something other than rock for an inner core. I appreciate the dialogue. So much info has been brought back by Apollo, it seems like there are more questions now than before we went there. Its worth noting that A11 brought back rocks that were dated at 3.6 billion years of age. The dust at Tranquility Base where these rocks were picked up was dated at 4.6 billion years old. The very age scientists believe the entire Solar System clocks in at. The oldest rocks found on planet Earth, discovered in Greenland, were clocked at 3.7 billion years old. And then....there are over a dozen areas that were mapped out on the Moon called 'mascons' which are mass concentrations of greater gravity or density, where spacecrafts orbits were distorted.
When Apollo 8 passed over some of these areas, the spacecraft accelerated and had a slight downward pull. Every lunar probe did the same thing when it flew over these areas; dipped slightly and accelerated. Another interesting fact about mascons was revealed after they were mapped. They were located in only the circular sea's and in a few of the circular dark-floored craters. They are not found in the irregular shaped maria. Is there any significance to this? I don't know, but there sure are a lot of mysteries to be discovered about our nearest neighbor. Thanks for taking the time to read all this stuff. Responses are welcome! Frank |
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