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An object discovered by amateur astronomer Bill Yeung in orbit around the Earth is probably not a new asteroid moon but the third stage of an Apollo Saturn IV rocket, says NASA. The object known as J200E3 was discovered on Sept 3 and has a path that meant it was in orbit around the Earth. Calculations suggested that J200E3 had been captured into orbit around the Earth from a previous orbit around the Sun sometime in April and that it was perhaps a small asteroid around 50 m across. Further modelling of the orbit, however, now suggests that the object's previous orbit around the Sun intersects that of the Earth in the 1960s and 1970s during the era of the Apollo missions. It is, therefore, probably the third stage booster from a Saturn V rocket.
The capture of J200E3 from its orbit around the Sun seems to have occurred when the object passed near the Earth's L1 Lagrange point, a location where the gravity of the Earth and Sun approximately cancel. This point serves as "portal" that allows an orbit to be changed dramatically. J200E3 is the first object known to have been captured by the Earth in this way.
It seems quite likely that this object is one of the Apollo Saturn S-IVB third stages which flew by the Moon during this era (Apollos 8 through 12). The brightness of J002E3 seems to match the expected brightness of an S-IVB stage. Further evidence suggests that J200E3 is in fact the Apollo 12 stage, which was left in a very distant Earth orbit after it passed by the Moon on November 18, 1969.
The future of J200E3 is uncertain since its current orbit will not remain stable. Predictions suggest it has a 20 percent chance of colliding with the Moon and 3 percent of colliding with the Earth. The likelihood of this Apollo 12 rocket stage coming home is thus quite low but if it does it is expected to burn-up harmlessly in our atmosphere.
An animation showing the capture of J200E3 can be seen at the NASA NEO Program's website.
More info: NEO Program
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