AstroGrav Help /Sample Simulations /Solar System /Asteroids /2016 HO3Version 5.1

2016 HO3

This simulation shows the recently discovered strange object 2016 HO3 as viewed from the Earth, and as described in the article:

http://arksky.org/calendar/alerts/714-what-is-it-the-strange-new-object-2016-ho3

The article is slightly misleading, since it says that the orbit of 2016 HO3 is locked into a figure-of-eight pattern. The orbit of 2016 HO3 is actually a one-year orbit similar to the Earth's, so that 2016 HO3 is always quite close to the Earth, and the figure-of-eight pattern is the path of 2016 HO3 against the background stars as viewed from the Earth.

If you run the simulation forward, you can watch how 2016 HO3 moves in the View From Earth. Each time round the figure-of-eight takes one year, and the Sun can be seen flying past each time 2016 HO3 is near the bottom of the figure-of-eight. The brighter planets can also be seen, but the Moon has been deliberately blacked out so that it doesn't appear flashing across the view.

The View From Earth is over 100 degrees square, which makes the distortion caused by mapping the celestial sphere onto a plane very obvious towards the edges.

Since different computers run at different speeds, you may need to edit the evolution time step to get the simulation to run at an acceptable rate.

You can find out more about 2016 HO3 from the following website:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/469219_Kamoʻoalewa