From: Amara Graps (Amara.Graps@mpi-hd.mpg.de)
Date: Thu Sep 19 2002 - 15:34:09 MDT
Submitted to the online BBC factual error form
(hopefully to Dr. David Whitehouse), by my officemate
today regarding that BBC report about the
'possible new moon' :-(
that error-riddled report is here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2251386.stm
Amara
(I confess I never read that original BBC report that we discussed on
the extro list last week, I'm glad that my officemate did. Apparently
these errors propagated through the Russian media last week and his
friends alerted him. If BBC doesn't correct these blunders, he will
send a stronger letter.)
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When you described discovery of that piece of junk J002E3, in the bottom
of the article you wrote:
If it is determined that J002E3 is natural it will become
Earth's third natural satellite.
Earth's second one is called Cruithne. It was discovered in
1986 and it takes a convoluted horseshoe path around our
planet as it is tossed about by the Earth's and the Moon's
gravity.
1. Cruithne is not a satellite of the Earth. It is an asteroid.
It moves about the Sun, the minimum distance to the Earth
is 40 lunar orbital radii, well outside the Hill's sphere
used to distinguish between satellites and independent solar system
bodies.
2. The Moon's gravity is not a player in this "tossing game".
It is simply too far and small.
3. The source of this confusion is likely
http://burtleburtle.net/bob/physics/cruithne.html cited
by David Whitehouse. The author of that page is an amateur.
I'd recommend
http://www.astro.queensu.ca/~wiegert/3753/3753.html
by Paul Wiegert, Kimmo Innanen of York University in Toronto, Canada,
and Seppo Mikkola of Tuorla Observatory, University of Turku, Finland.
Please get your information from credible sources!
With best wishes,
Valeri Dikarev, PhD
Space Dust Group
Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik
Saupfercheckweg 1
69117 Heidelberg, GERMANY
--
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Amara Graps, PhD | Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik
Heidelberg Cosmic Dust Group | Saupfercheckweg 1
+49-6221-516-543 | 69117 Heidelberg, GERMANY
Amara.Graps@mpi-hd.mpg.de * http://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/dustgroup/~graps
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"Never fight an inanimate object." - P. J. O'Rourke
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