Reader reaction to 2018 GE3:
“2018 GE3 was found less than a day before before its closest approach.” Yikes.
Very. To say we have a NEO (Near Earth Orbit) detection system in place is not to say it detects everything. There are size limitations and directional limitations – which is to say, if an object is on an outbound leg, which is to say outbound from the direction of the Sun, then the Sun can make it more difficult to detect.
Another:
My father-in-law believed that NASA launches from Kennedy Space Center would ultimately affect Earth’s rotation and orbit. It was his play on Newton’s First – for every action there is an equal and opposite…..
I’m not sure about rotation, since launches are perpendicular to the rotational direction of the Earth, but I’d believe orbit. I recall reading somewhere about how “slingshot” maneuvers around other planets “stole momentum” from them – an immeasurably smal fraction, but physics is physics.
