Is it possible for the Earth to capture a comet or asteroid and acquire a second moon?

Answer 1

we already have a second moon called cruithne. it dosen't orbit the same way as the moon. it orbits in a kind of horseshoe shape. it is a captured asteroid. there are also another three called (54509) 2000 PH5, (85770) 1998 UP1 and 2002 AA29. cruithne was discovered in 1986, it's 5km in diameter and is 30 times the distance of the earth to the moon.

Answer 2

As all the above - quite unlikely but no impossible:

Astronomers a year or two ago detected a small (15-25 meter) object in an apparent orbit around the earth. They tracked it for some time, and discovered that, due to its ecentricty, it was in a chaotic orbit around us and the moon. Early thoughts where it was a captured asteriod.

However, after taking more readings they found that the object was far brighter than it should have been for its size - reflecting some 20% of the light that fell on it, as opposed to the 1% or less for a dirty asteriod.

More checks in its orbit lead the astronomers to establish it was not an asteriod, but a spent 2nd stage of a Saturn V moon rocket - most likely Apollo 14. It has swung out again past earth, and will not be back for about 20 years eh nit may burn up in our atmosphere, or on a close appraoch to the moon, crash there!!

Answer 3

Yes but it requires a few variables to be in place. The first. This asteroid must be moving at a pace slow enough that it does not shoot past ( I think escape verlocity from Earths gravitational pull is about 11.2 km a second) and is drawn into Earths gravitational pull. Also It has to be small enough so that earth does not start orbiting the asteroid. It also has to time it's arrival in synchronisation with the moon so that the gravitational effects of the moon do not change it's course. I am certain there are more that I can not think of, but when you consider the odds of Earth forming and supporting stable life, It may not be that far out after all.

Answer 4

yes it is possible, however it is not likely. for a few reasons

1 it would have to come in at the perfect angle to be captured by earths gravity. too shallow and it would be swung around and sent off in another direction, too steep and it would be pulled into the atmosphere and burn up.

2 assuming it did hit that perfect angle and was put into orbit around the earth. it now has to deal with the moons gravity which would tend to pull it into a different orbit. So that it might orbit the earth for just a very brief time before the orbit was disturbed and it was sent back on its way into space.

So although it is possible... not very likely.

good question though.

Answer 5

As stated by all the others, a comet could indeed be caught by our orbit but will most lickly change diriction minorly and continue its path. The comet is propelled forward by the gravity of the planets that it does pass, therefore bypassing a planet. However if our planet was hit by a comet or any flying matter in space, it may proceed to fall into our orbit, but not before we die from the impact.

Answer 6

sure, yet stability is the issue, inspite of bits of area debris and the heavier that is the more serious it turns into. So extremely you're asking if we seize yet another moon how lengthy can we save it and what takes position next. If it replaced into an rather heavy ingredient then the destiny may be somewhat alarming. A collision with a 20 mile diameter body might want to be more effective than somewhat catastrophic. if you're searching for an rather lengthy time period answer say billions of years then even the planets themselves may be in probability, honestly Mercury i trust.

Answer 7

It's possible, but highly improbable.

An object hurling through space that came close to the earth might change course by being pulled by the Earth's gravitational field, but the momentum behind it would most likely inhibit orbit.

Answer 8

It is certainly possible, but probably won't happen. Mars' two moons are captured asteroids.

Answer 9

yes - there's tons of space garbage just orbiting the planet... whatever is close enough burns up -

the moon is large enough that it can orbit without crashing into the planet, but anything that's a reasonable size could become a moon or whatever

Answer 10

it is very possible but the odds are against it happening. most objects that approax earth are either pulling in by our gravity well or are moving to fast to be captured.