Asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa (2016 HO 3) is said to be a quasi-satellite because it appears to orbit the Earth like the Moon. It was suggested that this Kamo’alewa might be a lunar fragment, but simulations showed that lunar fragments can actually achieve a quasi-satellite orbit.
Kamo Alewa is a celestial body discovered in 2016. It was revealed in 2017 that it is an asteroid that orbits the Earth like the moon. When viewed from Earth, it appears as if it is oscillating in an orbit, so this celestial body was named Kamo’oalewa, which means oscillating star in Hawaiian. Moreover, in a 2021 study by Kamo’alewa, the light spectrum was found to match the moon rock brought back from the Apollo program, suggesting the possibility that the moon fragment became a quasi-satellite.
A research team at the University of Arizona focused on the possibility that lunar debris ejected from the lunar surface due to a meteor impact could enter a quasi-satellite orbit. According to the research team, the moon is constantly subject to meteorite impacts, but because the moon fragments require sufficient kinetic energy to escape the Earth and Moon gravitational systems, the moon fragments generated during collisions usually fall on the moon as is. Also, even if it was possible to escape the gravitational system, this kinetic energy was too great to obtain a quasi-satellite orbit, so it was thought that it was unlikely that the moon fragment would become an Earth quasi-satellite.
However, after inputting the gravity of all planets in the solar system into a computer simulation and calculating it, they found that some of the moon fragments could attain a quasi-Earth orbit. According to the research team, Kamo’oalewa may be one of the fragments released by meteors hitting the moon over the past millions of years.
The research team plans to investigate under what conditions Kamo’alewa obtained its unique orbit. It is also said that they are pursuing the origin of the moon by specifying the exact age of Kamo’oalewa. Because Kamo’alewa had a unique orbit, the research team analyzed its spectrum and suggested that it may be a lunar fragment. If Kamo’oalewa was a typical near-Earth asteroid, no one would have thought to look at its spectrum, and it was not even possible that Kamo’oalewa was a lunar fragment, he said. Related information: this placeYou can check it here.
