Scientists have detected an object of unknown make that will enter the Earth's orbit to be a mini-moon up there in space. It will not be anything occurring naturally in the cosmos, but a discarded segment of booster rocket from long ago.
This is what they speculated as a space junk, just floating out in space. Experts speculate that the space object is a segment of the rockets that were used in the 1960s, which is heading back home to Earth. These were pulled by the orbit of the planet and settling in an eternal orbit, reported Meaww.
Dr. Paul Chodas of NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, said that the recently discovered object 2020 SO is a rocket segment that is in orbit around the sun. A similar circle orbit is in the same plane, although a bit farther from the Sun at its most extreme point, noted CNN.
He added that the suspect booster segment is the stage when it separated on the way to the moon.
This object was detected by the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) observatory found in Hawaii. One of the jobs of Pan-STARRS is to scan the skies for threatening Near-Earth objects (NEOs) that can be dangerous to planetary life. One of these dangers is planet killers with the potential of ending lives like the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago (65 MYA). Of course, another task is to find new comets.
Chodas inferred that scientists are intent on confirming their assumptions, verifying it by observing how the sun will affect it. One particular effect which can be detected is that of pressure exerted by solar rays. One assumption is that the motion of the object will be greatly affected by solar pressure will be detected noticeably by observers on Earth.
Should it be a part of a whole rocket segment of the failed Surveyor mission, then it will have less material density. Another is the solar pressure can easily change its trajectory too. Should it be a natural asteroid it will be less dense and keep whatever trajectory it has got. Overall, the motion tracking data can be seen by scientists.
According to Alice Gorman, a space archaeologist in Australia, tracking them is crucial, or they will be easily lost and hard to re-detect, said ScienceAlert. Adding that these space bodies are unpredictable by nature, it can disappear in just a blink, and where it went no knows.
Everything in the universe is ruled by cause and effect. In this case, the space junk out there is a consequence of man's activity. Repercussions of sending any objects out in space like a toss and forget does not work. It will have a consequence too that might not be now, but for future space travel.
In outer space, anything can go missing and never be seen until least expected like a sprawling cosmic needled in a haystack that goes on for eternity. Another is space objects are a threat to the international space station.
