28 March 04
The Earth has only one true Moon, but astronomers have found that we also have a “quasi-moon” – a travelling companion through space that is circling the Earth while actually orbiting the Sun.
The object, the only quasi-moon discovered so far, is an asteroid called 2003 YN107 which circles the Sun in an orbit almost identical to Earth’s, but follows a corkscrew path that from time to time means that it appears to orbit Earth.
Earth’s natural satellite, the moon, affects Earth like the tides. What effect can this “quasi-moon” will have on Earth?
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