American astronomers have conducted a series of studies, which resulted in a sensational discovery. It turns out that the Earth has not one natural satellite, as it was believed all this time, but two.
We are talking about an object called 2016 HO3, which was recorded in April 2016. Paul Chodas is a man who is the discoverer of the cosmic body. The American astronomer used in his work the automatic telescope Pan-STARRS 1 (PS1) of the Pan-STARRS system, erected on the top of the Hawaiian volcano Haleakala.
Experts note that 2016 HO3 has some properties that allow it to obtain the status of a satellite of our planet. In particular, this object has not moved far from the Earth for a long time, and this will not happen in the coming centuries.
2016 HO3 can move away from the Earth at a distance that exceeds the distance to the Moon by 200 times, but planetary attraction will prevent the object from being even further away. It is also noted that the satellite does not approach our planet, so there is no talk of a collision, and because of its very modest size, it is not capable of causing an eclipse.
It is worth noting that there are a number of other objects that, by their properties, can be called quasi-satellites of the Earth, but they do not demonstrate a stable location at a certain distance, as 2016 HO3 does. He began to behave like a satellite about 100 years ago.