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[11] [12]: 146 He had begun his search for secondary moons based on the hypothesis that something was gravitationally affecting the Moon's orbit. [13] Waltemath described one of the proposed moons as being 1,030,000 km (640,000 mi) from Earth, with a diameter of 700 km (430 mi), a 119-day orbital period, and a 177-day synodic period. [8]
A minor-planet moon is an astronomical object that orbits a minor planet as its natural satellite. As of January 2022 [update] , there are 457 minor planets known or suspected to have moons. [ 1 ]
The average distance to the Moon (or lunar distance (LD)) is about 384,400 km (238,900 mi), which is around 30 times the diameter of the Earth. [3] Below are lists of close approaches less than one LD for a given year. (See also near-Earth asteroids and NEO Earth Close Approaches.)
The known icy moons in this range are all ellipsoidal (except Proteus), but trans-Neptunian objects up to 450–500 km radius may be quite porous. [ 10 ] For simplicity and comparative purposes, the values are manually calculated assuming that the bodies are all spheres.
In order to be considered a "mini-moon," an incoming object must reach Earth at a range around 2.8 million miles and at a steady space of about 2,200 mph, according to Marcos.
Most small asteroids are believed to be piles of rubble held together loosely by gravity, although the largest are probably solid. Some asteroids have moons or are co-orbiting binaries: rubble piles, moons, binaries, and scattered asteroid families are thought to be the results of collisions that disrupted a parent asteroid, or possibly a ...
In astronomy, a co-orbital configuration is a configuration of two or more astronomical objects (such as asteroids, moons, or planets) orbiting at the same, or very similar, distance from their primary; i.e., they are in a 1:1 mean-motion resonance.
There are 293 confirmed moons in our cosmic neighborhood. By studying these worlds, astronomers hope to learn about ancient asteroid collisions, space volcanoes, and the origins of life itself.