Earth's mysterious 'second moon' nobody knew existed!

The Earth has a second moon! Yep, you read that right. Surprise: the brightest, most precious object to us humans in the night sky is no longer the only moon to be found revolving around Earth. [caption id=“attachment_2133819” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  An image showing the orbit of the second moon. YouTube screengrab[/caption] Apparently in 1997, researchers found another object 3753 Cruithne circling Earth. It is known as a quasi-orbital satellite as it doesn’t follow the nice oval orbital path of the Moon or the rest of the planet. It loops around Earth in a rather confusing manner, in small concentric circles until it completes one revolution. According to Discover Magazine, if you look at Cruithne’s motion in the solar system, it makes a messy ring around Earth’s orbit, swinging so wide that it comes into the neighborhood of both Venus and Mars. Apparently, orbits like Cruithne’s are known as “horseshoe” orbits and are extremely common in the Solar System. Especially when it comes to Saturn’s many moons. Cruithne orbits the Sun in about one year but it takes 770 years for the series to complete a horseshoe-shaped movement around the Earth. Scientists believe that at “somepoint” in the future Cruinthe may collide with earth with devastating consequences- and might even lead to extinction. However, you can breathe easy — the point where it is predicted to get closest to Earth is about 2,750 years away. And if you’re wondering when it will next be seen - then that’s some time away too - July 2292. Cruithne’s Weird Orbit http://i.imgur.com/zExAZlX.gif