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(meteorobs) 1972 skipping asteroid
Below is a segment of something that tom Ashcraft originally posted here
awhile back.
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>It is interesting to note that the Aug 10, 1972 object is predicted to be
in the vicinity of the Earth again in 1997 with Ceplecha predicting it to
pass within 4 days (+/- 8) of the Earth (around Aug 10). This time it
might
not miss! It is also interesting to note that such "escaped fireballs"
have
their orbits modified to become more similar to the Earth's in terms of
orbital period. There may thus be a class of asteroid with orbits similar
to each planet but having ablated surfaces. Perhaps this is a source of
Trojan asteroids and the mysterious asteroid 1991 VG, suspected by some to
be
a lost returning satellite. (Impact debris on the Earth, Moon, Mars, etc
would also tend to follow orbits similar to the impacted object.)
Cheers, Rob McNaught
rmn@aaocbn2.aaodot gov.au<