Our forgotten new moon

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I guess what with the Virus of Doom, the Great Economic Meltdown, the inevitable march towards the re-election of Trump, etc., the really important stuff is being forgotten.

I was watching a Late Show from last week with Neil Degrasse Tyson* and he mentioned something about an ignorable little new moon.

So, I got around to searching and indeed we have one!

Welcome 2020 CD[sub]3[/sub]! About the size of a car, maybe. Probably been orbiting around 3 years. Will end up being ejected in April. (The Big Moon is jealous. It kicks these things out all too easily.)

The last temporary moon was discovered in 2006. So even more rare than blue moons.

  • You know what they say about people with 3 names, don’t you? They kill small planets.
2

Ooh, I read about that in… in… maybe it was Science News? I thought it was pretty cool that we often have temporary moonlets. I didn’t know that was a thing.

3

That is cool. I’ve learned something new today.

4

The British comedy quiz show QI has been keeping the public informed about our tiny little moons for years. It’s fascinating and confusing.

Warning: the link goes to a YouTube video, which contains language that some folks might find vulgar.

5

There’s also Cruithne 3753 Cruithne - Wikipedia that has a weird horseshoe orbit near Earth.

6

It’s not our second auxiliary moon. Get in line.

7

You may be on to something there. Grand Moff Tarkin being a case in point.

8

I read the thread title (“new moon”) as referencing the monthly disappearance of Luna because no sunlight and thought, “Sure, it’s easy to forget. But remember, true conservatives denigrate the new moon out of respect for that venerable institution, the old moon.” So yes, it’s all political.