Earth's 2nd Moon Found ?

[Christina]

New 'moon' found around Earth There could be another one By Dr David Whitehouse BBC News Online science editor An amateur astronomer may have found another moon of the Earth. Experts say it may have only just arrived. Much uncertainty surrounds the mysterious object, designated J002E3. It could be a passing chunk of rock captured by the Earth's gravity, or it could be a discarded rocket casing coming back to our region of space. It was discovered by Bill Yeung, from his observatory in Arizona, US, and reported as a passing Near-Earth Object. It was soon realised, however, that far from passing us, it was in fact in a 50-day orbit around the Earth. Paul Chodas, of the American space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, says it must have just arrived or it would have been easily detected long ago. Calculations suggest it may have been captured earlier this year