Asteroid or Space Junk? NASA Thinks Mystery Object Could Be

A space object recently discovered as a possible asteroid may actually be an old rocket from a failed moon-landing attempt in the 1960s.

Astronomers observed the object last month ทดลองเล่นสล็อตฟรีทุกค่าย through a telescope based in Hawaii. The scientists documented the object as an asteroid that was on its way toward Earth. Searching for such objects is common among astronomers as part of international efforts aimed at protecting Earth against asteroid hits.

The object was given the name 2020 SO. It was added to the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center’s list of asteroids and comets found in our solar system. Currently, the list is just a little under 1 million.

But the American space agency NASA’s leading asteroid expert, Paul Chodas, says he believes the newly discovered object is not an asteroid at all. Instead, he believes the object is a piece of space junk.

Chodas has suggested that the object is likely the old booster rocket that successfully pushed NASA’s Surveyor 2 lander to the moon in 1966.
“I’m pretty jazzed about this,” Chodas told The Associated Press. “It’s been a hobby of mine to find one of these and draw such a link.”

Chodas has been studying asteroids for many years. He is currently director of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Surveyor 2 was a robotic spacecraft that crashed into the moon after one of its engines failed to start during the trip. The rocket, named Centaur, kept flying past the moon as planned and became space junk.

The object being observed is estimated to be about 8 meters long based on its brightness. That is about the size of the old Centaur rocket.
Chodas said the first thing that caught his attention was the object’s near-circular orbit around the sun, which is very similar to Earth’s. Such behavior is unusual for an asteroid. Chodas said the movement represented “flag number one” that the object is not an asteroid.

The mysterious object is also in the same plane as Earth, not positioned above or below. That was the second red flag for Chodas, since asteroids usually travel at uneven angles. Lastly, Chodas said the object is coming toward Earth at about 2,400 kilometers an hour, which is considered very slow for an asteroid.

As the object gets closer to Earth, astronomers should be able to better follow its orbit and observe how much it is pushed around by radiation and heat effects of the sun. If it is an old empty rocket, it will move differently than a heavy space rock that is not as affected by outside forces.