(CNN)
-- An object recently detected in a chaotic earth orbit is possibly a
section from one of the largest rockets ever built, a monster taller
than a football field that carried men to the moon, scientists said.
When amateur astronomer Bill
Yeung from Arizona spotted the object last week, space enthusiasts
speculated that it might be a natural earth satellite.
The reason, the mysterious rambler travels in a jumbled ellipse around
the earth that reaches far beyond the moon, suggesting our planet's
gravity captured a wandering space rock.
But calculations by the Minor Planet Center in Massachusetts, a
clearinghouse for minor planet and comet discoveries, 'immediately led
astronomers to suspect the object is actually a spacecraft or rocket
body, not an asteroid,' said NASA's Paul Chodas in a statement on
Wednesday.
There was one caveat, Chodas, a research scientist with the space
agency's near earth program office in California, which monitors
potentially hazardous space boulders, noted that the object "could not
be associated with any recent launch,."
Dubbed J002E3, the enigma could be the third stage of a Saturn V rocket,
which took Apollo astronauts to the moon from 1969 to 1972, Chodas said.
If so, why did the big scrap of metal remain undetected for so long? It
probably escaped earth's gravitational influence for years, according to
NASA.
"J002E3 is the first known case of an object being captured by earth,"
Choda said.
NASA
astronomers theorize that J002E3 drifted into orbit around the sun, then
fell back under our planet's gravitational spell earlier this year,
having passed through one of numerous lagrange points, or 'portals' in
space where the sun's gravity and that of the earth cancel the other
out.
"Jupiter has been known to
capture comets via the same mechanism," said Choda, giving the example
of Shoemaker-Levy, which broke up and collided in a spectacular fashion
in the great planet in 1994.
Circumstantial evidence, including reflective brightness, suggests that
the object came from the Apollo 12 mission, which flew to the moon in
November 1969.
The object could make another mark in astronomy, orbiting earth roughly
once every 43 days. It has a 20 percent chance of striking the moon in
2003 and a 2 percent chance of hitting the earth within the decade.
"This should not be of concern to the public. Apollo stages have
impacted the earth before," Choda said.
COMMENTS:
Well first off, there was never a moon shot - WE NEVER WENT TO THE MOON
FOLKS! No matter what NASA says, no matter how loud they yell screech or
cry - WE NEVER WENT TO THE MOON! It's an impossibility. I know a lot of
people doubt this and I know there's a lot of emotion surrounding this
issue. Just go to the
Web site moonmovie.com, read the entire
site and order the video or DVD and watch it, then give to a friend. So
this so-called "rocket booster" isn't from the old Apollo 12 moon shot.
First lie.
Second
- does anyone remember over the past several years how reports we have
received of asteroids passing close to the earth - even between the
earth and the moon? Well... why weren't they captured? Look it up - the
Lagrange points - it's where the Sun's gravity and our gravity are equal
- doesn't mean that we or the sun will capture anything. If it went so
close to the sun, why didn't the sun eat it up, like they state that
Jupiter ate up SL9???? Second lie.
NASA is so upset by the
production of this movie that they have just announced the release of a
new booklet that will be passed out to school children arguing their
point and praising their own work getting to the moon. Want your kids to
be lied to? Third lie.
Could it possibly be that NASA and our government is lying to us because
we might just catch a glimpse of something else coming into earth's
orbit? Is that possible? In the main article, you will note the
direction and latitude of the objects that we have said are coming into
our orbit. In the last article we posted images and movies of these
objects coming in to the earth. And now we are posting an explanation
for the means by which they are coming in.
A rocket booster? No way no how. NASA/JPL get a grip and start telling
us the truth. We will respect you for it if you do.
(CNN)
-- An object recently detected in a chaotic earth orbit is possibly a
section from one of the largest rockets ever built, a monster taller
than a football field that carried men to the moon, scientists said.
NASA
astronomers theorize that J002E3 drifted into orbit around the sun, then
fell back under our planet's gravitational spell earlier this year,
having passed through one of numerous lagrange points, or 'portals' in
space where the sun's gravity and that of the earth cancel the other
out.
Second
- does anyone remember over the past several years how reports we have
received of asteroids passing close to the earth - even between the
earth and the moon? Well... why weren't they captured? Look it up - the
Lagrange points - it's where the Sun's gravity and our gravity are equal
- doesn't mean that we or the sun will capture anything. If it went so
close to the sun, why didn't the sun eat it up, like they state that
Jupiter ate up SL9???? Second lie.