6Q0B44E, sometimes abbreviated to B44E, is a small object, probably an item of
space debris, that is currently orbiting
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
outside the orbit of the
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
as of November 2018.
Discovery
6Q0B44E was first observed by
Catalina Sky Survey
Catalina Sky Survey (CSS; obs. code: 703) is an astronomical survey to discover comets and asteroids. It is conducted at the Steward Observatory's Catalina Station, located near Tucson, Arizona, in the United States.
CSS focuses on the search ...
researchers at the
Lunar and Planetary Laboratory
The Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL) is a research center for planetary science located in Tucson, Arizona. It is also a graduate school, constituting the Department of Planetary Sciences at the University of Arizona. LPL is one of the wo ...
of the
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory.
T ...
on 28 August 2006. The sighting was confirmed the next day by observations at the
Siding Spring Survey
The Siding Spring Survey (SSS) was a near-Earth object search program that used the 0.5-metre Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory, New South Wales, Australia. It was the southern hemisphere counterpart of the Catali ...
and
Table Mountain Observatory.
Observations
6Q0B44E was spotted at what was later calculated to be the brightest part of its orbit, at 19th
magnitude
Magnitude may refer to:
Mathematics
*Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction
*Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object
*Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector
*Order of ...
. As the object moved away from Earth, its brightness dropped on an approximately six-month cycle down to 28th magnitude, severely limiting study.
The object was observed 56 times in the seven months after its discovery, but was
lost in March 2007.
Another unidentified satellite of Earth, XL8D89E, was discovered in June 2016 on a similar - but not identical - orbit.
It is likely, though unproven, that both 6Q0B44E and XL8D89E are the same object, with the orbit shifted in the intervening decade by non-gravitational accelerations (such as slow escape of gas).
[
]
Properties
The object is just a few metres across and was classified as probably artificial. 6Q0B44E (and XL8D89E) orbits Earth between 585,000 and 983,000 km, which is 2 to 3 times the distance of the Moon's orbit, over a period of 80 days.Ephemerides
In astronomy and celestial navigation, an ephemeris (pl. ephemerides; ) is a book with tables that gives the trajectory of naturally occurring astronomical objects as well as artificial satellites in the sky, i.e., the position (and possibly ...
calculated from the observations suggest that 6Q0B44E probably entered the Earth–Moon system between 2001 and 2003, although it may have arrived up to a decade earlier. Similarities between the discoveries of 6Q0B44E and J002E3, now believed to be part of the Apollo 12 rocket, led some astronomers to speculate that 6Q0B44E may be another relic of human space exploration which has returned to Earth orbit. However, no space mission has been identified as the source of 6Q0B44E.
See also
*
* 3753 Cruithne – An asteroid in an Earth horseshoe orbit
* – Another asteroid in an Earth horseshoe orbit
*Natural satellite
A natural satellite is, in the most common usage, an astronomical body that orbits a planet, dwarf planet, or small Solar System body (or sometimes another natural satellite). Natural satellites are often colloquially referred to as ''moons'' ...
References
External links
The Distant Artificial Satellites Observation Page
accessed 2011-01-08
Discovery of 6Q0B44E
by Richard Kowalski 30 August 2006
{{Solar System
20060828
Discoveries by Richard Kowalski
Near-Earth objects in 2006
Space debris
Claimed moons of Earth