[meteorite-list] Trojan Asteroid Patroclus: Comet in Disguise?

[Sterling K. Webb]

Hi,

    The really neat thing about this configuration
is the view from the surface of (either) one
looking toward the other.

    Unlike our puny Full Moon, which fills only
1/2 degree of the sky, the other binary would
appear to loom in the sky spanning 10.67
degrees! 21 times the diameter of a Full Moon!

    Here is obviously the place to build the
Honeymoon Hotel of the Future. Come to
Patroclus! (Can't we do something about
that name?)

    Depending on the rotational period of
each object, the full "lunar" cycle would
repeat every few days. But, if you get
nervous about things falling on you, you
might not want to vacation someplace
where there's a "world" hanging in the
sky, obviously ready to drop...

    I guess the 76-mile one is the
"world" and the 70-mile one is the
"moon."

Sterling K. Webb
--------------------------------------
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron Baalke" <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2006 6:48 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Trojan Asteroid Patroclus: Comet in Disguise?


> 
> http://www.keckobservatory.org/news/science/060201_patroclus/index.html
>                      
> Trojan Asteroid Patroclus: Comet in Disguise?

>  the larger piece is 122 kilometer (76 miles) wide at
> its largest point, and the similar-sized partner is 112 kilometers (70
> miles). The two pieces orbit their center of mass every four days,
> separated by a distance of about 680 kilometers (423 miles).