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A New Moon Rising on the Way

3 October 2020
Astronomy

At https://phys.org/news/2020-09-alignment-plane-solar.html … a study of the motions of comets has led to the idea the solar system has a second alignment plane.

At https://phys.org/news/2020-09-video-meteoroid-earth-atmosphere.html … a video of an earth grazing meteor skipping across the top of the atmosphere and bouncing back into space.

At https://phys.org/news/2020-09-mini-moon.html … a new moon rising on the way. An asteroid, described as a potential new moon, is said to be about to approach the earth and it is being predicted it may be captured by earth's gravity this month, temporarily trapped in orbit. How long it will remain a new moon is currently unknown. It first has to happen. However, the odd feature of the story is that it might not be a space rock, but space junk, a second stage rocket part. A human made mini moon in effect, and the idea originates from the fact it has an orbit very much like that of the earth, and is approaching at a slow speed, we are assured. However, the figure touted is just 0.84 km a  second.

Staying a while longer on the astronomy theme, at www.space.com/migrating-jupiter-turn-venus-into-hell … which comes by way of Clark Whelton. Planetary scientists now suspect that Venus was once more earth like but at some point in the past it turned into a scorching hot waste land. It seems it may have been nudged out of orbit by Jupiter, moving from a position in the inner solar system outwards to its present position. Clark wonders why it is okay to have moving planets, and especially Venus and Jupiter, in the remoter past, but not at a period closer to our own time. The idea of course is to push any hint of catastrophism into the outer bounds of time.

The paper is at https://arxiv.org/pdf/2008.04927v2.pdf

At www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/mars-water-bodies-nasa… … multiple bodes of water found beneath the surface of Mars. Now, the search is on for life.

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