Mystery objects orbit Earth
According to NASA, a 60-foot object that nobody can quite identify is orbiting Earth. It could be an asteroid, but that seems unlikely, given that the sunlight reflected from the object appears to indicate that it's painted.
The article goes on to suggest that the object may well be a part of an Apollo moon rocket that's been orbiting the sun for the past 30 years and is now back. It pooh-poohs (authors take note: not "poo-poos") the notion that the object could be an alien spacecraft: "If it is, . . . the aliens aren't very good pilots. J002E3 is in a chaotic orbit."
Well, duh. Any science fiction reader would recognize the obvious fact that this object is in fact a disabled alien spacecraft. The pilot managed to get it just barely into orbit, albeit a chaotic one, before losing all engine power. The pilot is now hoping that the primitive species that lives on the planet will mount a rescue mission before life support fails and the methane gives out.
I mean, come on, NASA! Get with the program!
Well, okay, even if J002E3 isn't an alien spacecraft, there are still some awfully interesting other things orbiting the Earth. For example, did you know that Earth has two moons?
(Picked this up from Neil Gaiman's blog earlier in the week, didn't get a chance to post it.)
"Earth's second moon" is Cruithne. Cruithne is an asteroid that orbits the sun with nearly the same period as the Earth's orbit, in an orbit that crosses the orbits of Earth and Venus, tilted a fair bit from the plane of the ecliptic, more or less centered on a particular part of Earth's orbit. The link goes to a page with some interesting Java animations that try to give an impression of what the orbit is like. A little hard to wrap your head around.
(Gaiman also pointed to a BBC News article that calls J002E3 a potential third moon of Earth. That article doesn't mention the alien-spacecraft possibility. You'd think that the BBC, with their long history of broadcasting fine science fiction TV shows, would have stepped up to the plate on this one and called it like it is, to transatlantically mix metaphors.)
For more orbital fun, check out the Figure Eight Orbits page; a bunch more Java animations. Cool beans. I especially like the "juggling" one at the bottom.