Astronomers Say the Earth Has Another Moon
Astronomers say the Earth has two moons at this very moment. Crazy astronomers must have forgotten their glasses at the lab.
OK, "moon" might be over-selling it a little. University of Hawaii astronomers say that, according to their modeling, the earth has at least one (tiny) temporary moon at all times. These are passing asteroids that get sucked temporarily into earth's orbit.
From the MIT Technology Review:
"At any given time, there should be at least one natural Earth satellite of 1-meter diameter orbiting the Earth," say Granvik and co. These objects should hang around for about 10 months and make about three revolutions of the planet. That means Earth ought to have a metre-sized moon right now.
Does a meter-diameter hunk of rock actually count as a moon? Seems more like a space booger.
