Q -Calynthea, ring any bells?

[amacello]

Ive been told that Earth has more than Luna as its moon, in fact, there is another moon called Calynthea (although unsure of spelling). Im sceptical of this information myself, but has anyone ever heard of an object with similiar pronunciation/spelling?

Thanks,
Kate

[Waxing_Gibbous]

I have heard this and QI gives it credence, so it must be true.:)
But as its too small or has the wrong orbit, to see, has no influence (for all ractical purposes) on the Earth and we might not even notice it if it ran into us, its probably not worth bothering about.
Sort of a "rusty ute in the back 40", kind of moon. Leave it alone and it will eventually go away.

[amacello]

Thanks for the confirmation, any chance you could provide the correct spelling or some details?
:)

[ngcles]

Hi Kate,

I think the object you may be interested in is the Minor Planet (Small Solar-System Body) 3753 Cruithne.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3753_Cruithne

It isn't so much a "Moon" as a resonant co-orbital asteroid. These objects are not uncommon in our solar-system and Jupiter has 100's of them.

Another body with somewhat similar orbital properties is 2006 RH120 which is now confirmed to be an Apollo booster stage that is (for the most part) in a heliocentric orbit but sometimes becomes a temporary 2nd "Moon" of Earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_RH120

Hope that helps.


Best,

Les D

[Blue Skies]

Cruithne has a weird orbit that I've never quite come to grips with. But its no threat, Kate, just one of those oddities of the universe.

[amacello]

I'm not worried about the potentially 'threatening' orbit of Cruithne! :P
I was just in quest for information on a "second moon", although I was told that the pronunciation was Ka-lin-thi-a; perhaps Cruithhne is this phantom moon though.

Thankyou for your responses!