Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by te 973 days ago
In the transitions between quasi-satellite orbit and horseshoe orbit, why does it not hit Earth?
2 comments

Per @herpyderp's comment below, the best animation that shows this features a 3D rotation to orient so you can see how the rock is actually moving. [1] The movement is actually closer to a distorted torus with the Earth moving as a line in the center. The rock just rotates over the surface of the torus (longterm).

[1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/...

Because both objects are too small.