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from the waiting-for-evenball-asteroids dept.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Astronomers have found nearly 1 million asteroids in our Solar System, with the vast majority located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
It is far rarer to find asteroids with orbits closer to the Sun, and especially inside the orbit of Earth, due to Jupiter's gravitational influence. There are only about 20 known asteroids with orbits entirely inside that of Earth's. They are called Atira[*] asteroids.
Many of these Atira asteroids have orbits that are substantially tilted away from the plane of the Solar System, suggesting past encounters with Mercury or Venus.
Until now, scientists have theorized that Vatira asteroids might exist—those with orbits inside Venus—but had yet to find one. They would be difficult to observe because their orbits would bring them close to the Sun, leaving only a short window to find them in the dusk or dawn sky. And also because presumably they are quite rare due to the gravitational challenge of squeezing into a stable orbit so near the Sun.
But now astronomers have found a Vatira asteroid for the first time. The body, called 2020 AV2, was found earlier this month by the California Institute of Technology's Zwicky Transient Facility, and confirmed by other observatories around the world.
Wikipedia entry on Atira asteroids.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 21 2020, @10:49PM (7 children)
Be careful what you don't wish for. An Electric Universe anon could crawl out of a nearby hole.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday January 21 2020, @10:54PM (4 children)
I had always assumed the Electric Universe was one of those joke things like the Flying Spaghetti Monster, but apparently there are people who believe it.
No, really.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday January 21 2020, @10:57PM
Oh, apologies to Earth, Wind and Fire fans.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday January 22 2020, @08:14AM (2 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday January 22 2020, @07:05PM (1 child)
I had to look up Archimedes Plutonium.
Wow.
I think you're being a little hard on Earth Wind and Fire.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday January 22 2020, @08:27PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 21 2020, @11:42PM (1 child)
Don't be absurd. An Electric Universe anon would not crawl, they'd almost certainly be propelled by plasma.
Seriously, though, I read some of the EU stuff from time to time, not because I "believe" it, but because I think it likely that whatever solutions are discovered for the current gaps in knowledge within the "Standard Model" are going to come from some area currently considered to be quite weird. Like finding the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle you're putting together under the sofa in a room on the far side of the house.
(Score: 2) by gawdonblue on Wednesday January 22 2020, @04:48AM
Well I never - there are controversial topics in astronomy! How about we have a vote on whether to leave the EU?