Are there any other moons?

[timgreen]

Are there any other natural satellites in orbit around the Earth besides the moon? I would think there would almost have to be a few "chunks of rock" out there. They might not be very big. I'm just curious if there are any others.<br /><br />Thanks,<br />Tim<br /><br />

 

[dragon04]

The closest thing we have to a second moon, is Curithne. It's a 3 mile wide asteroid.. Read about it here:<br /><br />http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/second_moon_991029.html <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>

 

[vogon13]

Don't forget Toro!<br /><br />(Funny little rock we share with Venus.)<br /><br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

For a while, scientists thought there was a second natural satellite of the Earth. A few years ago, an observer discovered a small object. It was designated J002E3. Subsequent observations complicated the picture, however, and it became apparent that this was not a minor planet of the Sun -- it was in fact orbiting the Earth. J002E3 suddenly became the focus of quite a bit of attention. Through complex orbit calculations, study of the Moon to search for suspiciously young craters, and study of the object's surface composition through spectroscopy, they determined that it was actually a very special piece of space junk: the spent S-IVB (third stage of a Saturn V) from Apollo 12. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />It was predicted to leave Earth orbit again in 2003, and I believe it did so. It will return again one day; there is a regular period to its motion, apparently. There was briefly some worry about it being a potentially hazardous asteroid, but now that they know it's essentially an empty tube, it's far too light to be much of a worry. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[tony873004]

Defining a moon as something gravitationally bound to Earth, the Moon is alone. If the Sun suddenly disappeared, Earth and the Moon would fly off into intergalactic space together, remaining as a pair. But Cruithne and Toro would each go their own ways. <br /><br />Although there is some room in the Earth's Hill Sphere for retrograde orbiting satellites external to the Moon's orbit, any prograde (orbiting in the same direction as the Moon) orbits are unstable.<br /><br />Stable orbits do exist interior to the Moon's orbit. But the Moon is theorized to have formed just beyond Earth's Roche limit. As it migrated to its current location, it would have swept this area clear.