Here's the Sky and Telescope article about it. It's only about 1 meter across, and is due to wander back out into the solar system this fall, but it's done two loops already, and is supposed to do one more before we lose it. Pretty neat! Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
Jules Verne was right!!!
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
Heh, wow, that is pretty cool! Thanks for the link. Who gets to name it? Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
No way! [Cool. ]
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
I wish we could launch a mission to rendezvous with it and strap a sensor array to it before it heads back on its way.
Posted by Marlozhan (Member # 2422) on :
Couldn't we just take any old rock into space with a sensor array strapped to and see where it goes?
Posted by Nato (Member # 1448) on :
quote:Originally posted by Rakeesh: Heh, wow, that is pretty cool! Thanks for the link. Who gets to name it?
I do. Its name is Smudo.
Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
Cool.
Noemon, couldn't less applied energy launch a satellite in that orbit than it would take to rendevous with the moonlet? A rendevous just wouldn't be optimal.
Assuming it would even be an interesting orbit for exploration.
Posted by MightyCow (Member # 9253) on :
We should make some more mini-moons. I bet the moon gets lonely, and it would be cool to have another one or two, so it would feel like we're living in a fantasy book.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Because the current assortment of artificial satellites and detritus are insufficient?
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Yeah, you're probably right, Morbo.
Posted by MightyCow (Member # 9253) on :
I don't want detritus, I want a couple more full-sized moons to create magical confluences and foretell dark portents.
No dark lord is going to rise to power because the international space station reaches apogee. Get with the program!
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
But a 1-meter rock will do the trick?
Um . . .
Posted by ricree101 (Member # 7749) on :
quote:Originally posted by MightyCow: I don't want detritus, I want a couple more full-sized moons to create magical confluences and foretell dark portents.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by MightyCow: We should make some more mini-moons. I bet the moon gets lonely, and it would be cool to have another one or two, so it would feel like we're living in a fantasy book.
Posted by MightyCow (Member # 9253) on :
Sorry, by mini-moons, I intended they be not quite the size of our current moon, as to not completely hose the tides up, but still largish, which is as accurate as I'm willing to be.
If the 1-meter rock has portents to deliver, it shall deliver them. At best, space junk we put up there might tell us about a robot uprising, but you're going to have to keep track of thousands of pieces of detritus in relation to the phases of the moon, the current robot-anger level, the fuel levels of the shuttle's main tank... it's a lot of bookkeeping, and frankly I'd rather just leave that to the robots to work out themselves.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
quote:But a 1-meter rock will do the trick?
"'Ee's a ver smallish overlourd. Call him, Engnathok, Tyrant of the Beetles."
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by rivka: Because the current assortment of artificial satellites and detritus are insufficient?
I want to shoot one into orbit with a big "Do Not Litter" sign on it.
Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
I, for one, welcome our new 1-meter overlord.
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
I do not welcome our new 1-meter overlord, and shake my fist insolently at it. I ain't asceered of no 1-meter moon! *shakes fist*
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
ScottR Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by MightyCow: Sorry, by mini-moons, I intended they be not quite the size of our current moon, as to not completely hose the tides up, but still largish, which is as accurate as I'm willing to be.
Anything in an Earth orbit even remotely on the scale of our moon will seriously mess with the tides. You can't have it both ways.
I suggest that the two mini-moons be named Timor and Belior. Or maybe one can be T'Kuht.
Posted by The White Whale (Member # 6594) on :
quote:Originally posted by rivka: Anything in an Earth orbit even remotely on the scale of our moon will seriously mess with the tides.
Yeah, but it would be SO COOL to have two moons in the sky. SO COOL enough to forget about the awful side-effects until after the start happening.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
I prefer 3 moons, 1 red, 1 white, and 1 small one thats black.
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
It wouldn't have to have the mass of our moon - that would be kind of hard to get hold of anyway, it's something on the order of a fourth of the Earth's mass. Make it out of thin plastic, instead - a ping-pong ball that size of the moon, or a little smaller. With some internal struts to prevent it collapsing under its own weight, to be sure. It would still be pretty heavy, but probably not enough to mess up the tides. Finance it by selling ad space.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
What kind of dark overlord would THAT evoke?
Posted by MightyCow (Member # 9253) on :
The Nerf Lord of the Sith
Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
KoM, the moon is about 1/4 the diameter of the Earth. The mass ratio is about 1/81.
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
I sit corrected - I was remembering the diameter ratio as the mass ratio. But anyway, the point remains that you can't very well dig up one-eightieth of the Earth.
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
Of course you can't. Instead, you go find an astroid about the right size, round it off, and drop it in an appropiate orbit. Or, dig up a chunk of Mars, if you'd prefer a red moon. Digging up a chunk of the earth would be just silly.
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
Why don't we just cut the moon we already have in half? Then paint a happy face on the flat side of one half and a sad face on the flat side of the other. Talk about portending!
I must say I rather doubt that you can even move something one-eightieth the mass of the Earth (with current technology) in less than a few centuries. Good luck calculating the math of that orbit. But in any case there ain't no such asteroid; the largest, Ceres, has a diameter of 950 km, rather less than one-third that of the moon. Although I suppose you could orbit it closer and get some disc size back.
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
Because everyone else's suggestions have been so practical. Anyway, they said they wanted mini-moons.
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
The new moon could just be made of paper.
Posted by Artemisia Tridentata (Member # 8746) on :
and hang it over a cardboard sea.
Posted by Verily the Younger (Member # 6705) on :
quote:Originally posted by MightyCow: I don't want detritus, I want a couple more full-sized moons to create magical confluences and foretell dark portents.
No dark lord is going to rise to power because the international space station reaches apogee. Get with the program!
Actually, that gives me an idea for a short story. Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
quote:Originally posted by King of Men: I must say I rather doubt that you can even move something one-eightieth the mass of the Earth (with current technology) in less than a few centuries.
No need to. Just move everything else closer to the object. Problem solved!
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
That's no moon, its some kind of man-made satellite. (or Satellittle).
Its a "Death Star".
Only, its a real small one.
More of a "Coma Star"
Or perhaps that's to big too.
Would you believe a "Cat-nap Star"
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
How about "Dearth Star"?
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
quote:Originally posted by King of Men: I must say I rather doubt that you can even move something one-eightieth the mass of the Earth (with current technology) in less than a few centuries. Good luck calculating the math of that orbit. But in any case there ain't no such asteroid; the largest, Ceres, has a diameter of 950 km, rather less than one-third that of the moon. Although I suppose you could orbit it closer and get some disc size back.
Oh I think a second moon that is 1/3 the diameter of our current moon would work quite well. And I'm not convinced that technology necessary to move Ceres into a near earth orbit is necessarily more advanced than the technology for building a moon sized ping pong ball in orbit.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
dearth star! Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
quote:Originally posted by The Rabbit: And I'm not convinced that technology necessary to move Ceres into a near earth orbit is necessarily more advanced than the technology for building a moon sized ping pong ball in orbit.
But a moon-sized ping-pong ball is so much cooler! It's a much more elegant solution than brute-force moving rocks around, any nuclear power can do that given enough time.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
The Ever-Entertaining Eric James Stone wrote a marvelous short story called 'The Man Who Moved the Moon' in one of the Phobos anthologies.
It's a wonderful story, if you can get ahold of it.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
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