Moon(s)

[Kevdan]

Hi all,

I have heard several times that our planet has more than 1 bit of rock orbiting it, but why cant we see them ? how big/small are these? how many are there?

Kev.

[Islander]

Earth has the one moon and a couple of asteroids that are associated with it. The best known of these is Cruithne which trails the Earth in orbit around the Sun in an inclined orbit. The second one is designated 2002 AA29 and has a weird oscillating horseshoe shaped orbit again around the Sun although it does spend most of its time near the Earth. Cruithne can be seen but you'll need a large (12 inches or greater) mirror to see it 2002 AA29 probably can't be seen using standard amateur equipment (whatever that means ).

[dtr42]

1 moon other are quasi satelites Cruithne has an orbit of over 700 years [it orbits the sun not the earth]

[Black Knight]

Are you thinking of the trojan asteroid 2010 TK7 which occupies one of the Lagrangian points 60 degrees ahead of the earth?

2010 TK7 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Islander]

1 moon other are quasi satelites Cruithne has an orbit of over 700 years [it orbits the sun not the earth]

Actually, Cruithne's orbit around the Sun takes approximately a year, the 770 year period is the eccentric loop it makes resembling a horseshoe.